Irish Museum Solves Mystery of Bronze Age Axe Heads in Porridge Box

When the National Museum of Ireland received two 4,000-year-old axe heads, thoughtfully wrapped in foam inside a porridge box from an anonymous sender last month, it put out an appeal. The objects were described as “significant” and “exciting,” but experts needed more details about where exactly they had been found.

Now they have their answer: a farmer from County Westmeath has stepped forward as the mysterious sender. He revealed he made the “absolutely mad” discovery while using a metal detector on his land.

Thomas Dunne said he stumbled upon the items by chance on his silage field at Banagher at the end of June. “I was cutting silage [grass fodder for beef cattle] one day and a bit of metal fell off a mower,” he told the Irish Times.

“We started looking for it then because we thought it might go into the silage harvester and break it up. So, I got a man with a metal detector to look for it, and that’s how it was found. It was in the side of a field underneath a row of beech trees; there would have been ancient forts on the land around here,” he added.

It is illegal in Ireland to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector without written permission. Penalties can include up to three months in prison or a fine of up to €63,486 (£53,435). Nevertheless, it is understood that Dunne will not face charges.

When the museum received the anonymous axe heads, it issued an appeal for more information, stating it was “crucial to know the exact location where they were found” for reasons that could range from ritualistic to supernatural. Any information, it said, “would be treated in confidence and would only be used to fill out the discovery of the object.”

The museum is also participating in an international study of Bronze Age metalwork to trace the origins of the metals used in such artifacts. More details about the axe heads could provide critical information for this research.

Dunne, whose family has owned the land for 40 years, said he initially thought the axe heads were remnants of a horseshoe and was “shocked” to learn their significance.

“I only found out about it a week after it had been in the news, and I was surprised, to say the least. It’s absolutely mad when you think about it,” he told the Irish Times. The national museum, he added, was “horrid happy over this whole discovery.”

Archaeological finds in Ireland without a known owner become the property of the state and are preserved in national or designated museums for future generations as part of the country’s heritage.

Researchers from the national museum have now visited the site to log it in hopes of finding more information about the people who lived there 4,000 years ago.

Source: Irish Times