Do you find any jewels and gems and what is your most valuable find? Heather (12)

Hi Heather!

Jewellery is discovered by archaeologists, often working together with metal detectorists. A really good recent example is the Staffordshire Hoard, which was discovered by a detectorist and excavated by archaeologists. See www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk for more information. Also, have a look at the Portable Antiquities Scheme website for more about artefacts found by detectorists and archaeologists.

I have never been lucky enough to find anything like that whilst excavating. I have found coins, and also parts of a medieval altar piece made of alabaster stone and decorated with red and gold paint. Most of what we find is valuable for the information it can give us, rather than for how much money it could be sold for. The most interesting site I worked on was probably the Roman cemetery in York where we discovered that many of the burials had been decapitated (had their heads removed) and had injuries you would expect during fighting. Some experts think they might have been gladiators; we have never found the amphitheatre they may have fought in, however.

Ian

Answered by:

Ian Milsted

Ian works for York Archaeological Trust, managing excavations and surveys. He comes from Orkney and he once dug on a site packed with headless Romans!

I live near Pontefract in Yorkshire. Recently near where I live some builders making houses found a grave with Roman soldiers in. My grandad was talking to one of the builders and he said they still had their armour on. Did this happen often? Charlotte Wilson (9)

This does sound unusual as armour was normally re-used or recycled, although there are a few examples of this practice in Roman Britain. It sounds like a remarkable […]

What do you do when you find artefacts?! Do you put them in a museum, sell them in an auction, or just keep the items? Rukiye Shahla Babaoglu (9)

Hi Rukiye, The artefacts we find are carefully cleaned and catalogued, before being sent to specialists to study. These specialists can include people who are experts in particular […]

My 10yr old daughter wants to be an archaeologist and is mad keen on history. Can you recommend any books for someone her age? Oliver Marshall

There are loads of good books about archaeology for young people. A good general starting point is The Usborne Introduction to Archaeology by Abigail Wheatley It has loads […]