A Bronze Age hoard around 3,000 years old discovered in a field in Manorbier (Pembrokeshire, Wales) was declared treasure by Coroner Mark Layton. The 19 bronze and copper artefacts, including tools, a weapon, a personal dress item, ingots and bronze casting bi-products, were found by Gavin Palmer near Manorbier in August last year.
     Mr Palmer discovered socketed axes, a gouge, a sword blade fragment and a circular dish-headed pin which can be dated to the late Bronze Age and were buried around 1000 to 800 BCE.
     Dyfed Archaeological Trust carried out an investigation of the area, with funding support from Cadw, which suggested the artefacts had once been buried together as a hoard in an isolated pit. No further artefacts were found and there was no evidence of a settlement or monument in the immediate vicinity.
     Adam Gwilt, curator of the Bronze Age collections at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, said: "This varied group of bronze objects helps us to understand the kinds of tools, weapons and personal dress items that were in circulation in west Wales towards the end of the Bronze Age. The hoard may have been buried during a ritual ceremony held by a nearby community of farmers and metalworkers."

Edited from Western Telegraph (27 October 2011)