Ever found an old piece of stone in your garden? Could it be a Neolithic arrowhead? A fossil? A shard from a machine?
Once again, people could bring their finds to Bolton Museum’s #DugIt Archaeology ID Day, a drop-in on a Wednesday or Saturday every month from 11am to 3pm.
People brought artefacts, and whether found in the garden or with a metal detector, museum curator Ian Trumble could identify them.
Ian Trumble, an expert archaeologist, has 15 years of experience but still finds meaning in every object brought in.
Over the years, people have brought objects that turned out to be Bronze age spearheads, parts of textile machines or World War II bullets.
Today, Adrian Fell of Heaton brought a capped drinking vessel made of horn, a rock and a button for inspection.
Adrian said: “I bought that Viking horn in an antique fair. I gave £150 quid for that. I thought it was Anglo-Saxon.”
To his shock, it was not Anglo-Saxon, but a good Scandinavian copy.
Among Adrian’s treasures was a rock that turned out to have a fossilised plant inside, and a decomposing cow horn.
Adrian said: “I found this one beachcombing in Southport.
“I once found a kid’s Victorian shoe there, the leather was still on it.”
Adrian said: “I like archaeology. Something that people dig up from thousands of years ago. Doesn’t it get you going?”
His arrowhead turned out to be from 2,500 years ago, possibly from the Mediterraneanm or Anatolian Turkey.
Adrian was shocked. He said: “500 BC? That’s before Christ!”
Ian continued to shock people with his knowledge as they came in.
Alan Mulholland, 70, of Tonge Fold brought a pretty brown vase half glazed with green.
He said: “The green glaze is what attracted me to it. A lot of pots are brown glaze, but I’ve never seen a green salt glaze.”
Ian found it was a French vase from the 19th century, specifically a milking jug from about 1810, it imitated the medieval style.
Alan said: “It’s French. Wow, it’s come across the channel.”
Ian Trumble also runs the Young Archaeologists Club and is the curator of Bolton Museum’s Egyptian collection.
The collection boasts five distinct rooms with 12,000 artefacts, the largest of any local authority.
Bolton Museum is a partner of the British Museum in the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
This means members of the public can have their finds recorded by the Finds Liaison Office. It encourages people to bring in their archaeological finds for inspection.
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