A treasure hunter has found 18 Bronze Age items in a field near Newark in Nottinghamshire (England). Maurice Richardson stumbled across the collection, which includes four socket axes, a spear head, a chisel and a fragmented sword, by mistake. "I was on my way back to the car after being out all afternoon and wandered off the track," he said. "If I hadn't I wouldn't have found it."
     The first things to be dug out were three of the four axes; Mr Richardson said he immediately knew what they were. The items have been confirmed by Dr Chris Robinson, an archaeological officer from Nottinghamshire County Council, as a founders hoard. "Bronze Age metal workers tended to be itinerant. They would travel around the land plying their trade," said Dr Robinson. "Often they would bury their produce and come back for it later."
     The finds will now be submitted to the British Portable Antiques Scheme (PAS) so that they can be recorded. All prehistoric base-metal artefacts found in Britain after 1 January 2003 qualify as treasure and the PAS will forward the items to the British Museum for further assessment, dating and valuation.

Edited from BBC News (1 March 2011)