A gold pendant, found near Amberley (West Sussex, England) by a treasure hunter, has turned out to be more than 3,000 years old. The piece of Bronze Age jewellery is only the second of its kind ever found; it has been dated to between 1100 BCE and 1300 BCE.
     A treasure inquest, held in Chichester, heard that the pendant was found by Cowfold resident Robert Grant on September 18 last year. A landowner had given him permission to look for artefacts on the farmland near Houghton. The pendant was buried six inches underground but Mr Grant, who has been a 'detectorist' for 15 years, found it with his metal detector. He reported it to Liz Wilson, finds liaison officer for Sussex, who passed the discovery on to the British Museum. British Museum experts have classed it as a bi-conical pendant, made of between 72 and 74 per cent gold and 18 to 20 per cent silver, with the rest being copper. It weighs 1.75g and is 23mm long. The only other pendant of this type so far discovered by archaeologists was part of a large hoard found near Wrexham in 2004.
     The inquest was arranged after Chichester District Museum expressed an interest in acquiring the pendant. West Sussex coroner Roger Stone ruled that, because of its age and precious metal content, the pendant came under the Treasure Act and the museum was entitled to have it. Mr Grant will be eligible for compensation once the British Museum's treasure valuation committee has decided what it is worth.

Source: Horsham Today (17 March 2006)