When 13-year-old Milly Hardwick went out metal detecting in a Suffolk field with her dad Colin, little did she know she would make a ‘once in a lifetime’ discovery.
It was only her third time out with a metal detector, and was still learning the ropes of the hobby which has a dedicated group of ethusiasts throughout Britain.
“I got a signal and yelled at my dad and when he started digging he went ‘this could be an axe’, and he was joking around about it,” she told the BBC.
Her father dug around the location and soon discovered a tool-like object, which had the shape of an axe head. In total 65 objects were found, identified later as axe heads dating from the Bronze Age, about the year 1300 BC.
The British Bronze Age started around 4,300 years ago, when ancient Britons began melting tin and copper together to make bronze.
‘Because it’s happening to us it’s lovely anyway, but it’s also nice that it’s happy news rather than some of the depressing news we’ve had lately.’
