The crudely made, undecorated pot was then placed on top of the spearhead. After laboratory excavation by Dr Jennifer Jones at the University of Durham, the pot was shown to contain a remarkable collection of finds; six wire rings, one tin alloy bead, one circular spoked rouelle, four amber beads and two jet beads.

Other finds recovered at the site by Mr Pounder included bronze rings, a large jet, D-section bracelet 109mm in diameter, strips of bronze and a rectangular jet spacer with two holes. This material is currently being conserved at Durham University.

The next deposit was the bronze spearhead, the socket had broken away from the spearhead prior to its recovery. Accompanying the spearhead were a number of long bronze pins, fragments of a bronze vessel of c50mm diameter and a substantial subcircular ring with a loop projecting from one edge, this is almost identical to one found in the Parc-y-meirch hoard (Megaw and Simpson 1979, fig 6.43, No 7). The latter seemed to be linked to a bronze ring by a piece of wire which ran through a central hole.

A very crude and undecorated pot was placed on top of the spearhead and this contained six wire rings of which only one was intact; one tin ally bead; one tin circular spoked rouelle; four amber beads and two jet beads. On of the amber beads retained a piece of thread over a centimeter long and a number of other beads also possess fragments of thread.

All of the finds described so far were recovered by laboratory excavation of the finds undertaken by Dr Jennifer Jones at the University of Durham. The remaining material, described below had been excavated separately by the metal detectorist but is presumed to have come from the pot.

In addition to sherds of the pot this included a rectangular jet spacer with two holes, four complete bronze rings of 54, 48, 41 and 23mm diameters, 32 fragments of bronze rings, two bronze nails, two flat strips of bronze, and over twenty fragments of vessel bronze representing at least two containers. In addition there were three jet beads and a large ‘D’ sectioned jet ring of 109mm diameter. The latter was substantially complete but a number of splinters had broken away from the surface and some of these have been recovered. The finder reported that this was placed on the very top of the pot.

This is a major find for the north-east of England and particularly from the area of the Tees Valley where very little Late Bronze Age material is known. There is a marked resemblance in the assemblage to the Parc-y-meirch hoard and following the interpretation of that hoard it is probable that much of the material represents fittings and decoration for horse harness.

The nature of the deposit seems to indicate that it is votive rather than a scrap hoard or any other type and the presence of the rouelle is particularly intriguing. These are apparently a feature of the French early Iron Age where they are viewed as a form of coinage (C Haselgrove pers comm), their presence on British sites is however relatively rare.

High Throston

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