Farmer looks for hammer, finds gold and silver in Hoxne, Suffolk

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SUMMARY

In 1992, Eric Lawes, a retired farmer from Suffolk, utilized his metal detector to search for a misplaced hammer and instead unearthed the Hoxne Hoard, which contained nearly 60 pounds of gold and silver artifacts, including over 15,000 Roman coins and 200 gold items. This significant discovery highlights the historical richness of the Hoxne area, previously noted for its ancient human society by John Frere, who found paleolithic flint tools there nearly 200 years earlier. The Hoxne Hoard is now recognized as one of the most important archaeological finds in Britain.

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In 1992, Suffolk-resident Eric Lawes and retired farmer, went looking for a missing/misplaced hammer.
Eric Lawes had been previously gifted a metal detector upon his retirement as a parting token. He decided to put his retirement gift to good use in order to locate the hammer which he had had some trouble finding.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/04/16/hoxne-hoard/

Lawes discovered what became known as the Hoxne Hoard, "close to 60 pounds of items made from silver and gold were found on the site. These included more than 15,000 Roman coins, 200 gold objects, and several silver spoons."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxne_Hoard
 
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A funny story with a happy ending. I wonder what he'd find if he went looking for his saw.
 
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Think that's remarkable? Almost 200 years earlier, John Frere was the first person in the modern world to conclude that there was an ancient human society which did not have metal tools or weapons after discovering 12 feet below modern ground level, below what appeared to be a sea bed, a cache of paleolithic flint tools in the same village, Hoxne, with population less than 1,000!
 
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