Archaeologists have unearthed Bronze Age treasure during a dig at the site of a planned new hospice in Gorleston (Norfolk, England). The team from Hertfordshire-based Archaeological Solutions found two quoit-headed pins about 35cm long, two large decorated twisted torques 18cm diameter and two small torques. The company was asked to carry out an archaeological survey ahead of the submission of a formal planning application for a new hospice.
     The discoveries were made late in the survey after the earlier confirmation of the existence of an Iron Age ring ditch marking the possible burial of an important person close to what will become the entrance to the hospice. The finds are believed to date from the middle Bronze Age, making them about 3,500 years old.
     East Coast Hospice chairman David Nettleship said the charity has plans to recreate the ring ditch as part of the landscaping of the site and to have a permanent display of the finds and archaeology in the hospice itself
     Martin Brook, assistant project manager at Archaeological Solutions, said the team was on site for about two and half weeks and found the items in a boundary ditch. "All of these finds come from the same segment of the same ditch in one trench," he said. "The two quoit-headed pins are not common. Less than 60 are known and these are between the fifth and seventh longest recorded. It is always very nice to find these kinds of things and from an academic point of view it is pretty important."

Edited from Norwich Evening News 24 (1 November 2011)