Complete carnyx, boar head standard found in Norfolk

"An Iron Age metal hoard containing one complete carnyx and a unique boar's head flag standard has been discovered in Thetford, West Norfolk. It is one of only three carnyces known to be found in Britain, and none of the others are even close to complete. In fact, with the mouthpiece, tube/pipe and bell all intact, it is one of the most complete examples, if not the most complete, ever found in Europe."

"A carnyx was a vertical trumpet with a bell in the shape of an animal head with an open maw that was used by Celtic peoples in battle to rally their soldiers and terrify their enemies. Up to six feet high, they towered above the heads of infantry and produced a sound that carried far. Ancient chroniclers recorded their unsettling sound. They are pictured on ancient coins as Gallic icons and displayed in use on the Gundestrup Cauldron (a silver cauldron found in a peat bog in Denmark in 1891)."

The hoard from Thetford, West Norfolk contains a complete carnyx, parts of a second, a boar's-head flag standard, five shield bosses and one unfamiliar iron object. The carnyx retains mouthpiece, tube/pipe and bell intact and shows signs of repair, indicating prolonged use. The boar's-head standard is the first example discovered in Britain. Carnyces were vertical trumpets with animal-head bells up to six feet high used by Celtic peoples in battle to rally soldiers and terrify enemies; ancient sources and iconography record their unsettling sound. The hoard was removed in a soil block, CT scanned and excavated in laboratory conditions to preserve fragile sheet bronze. The hoard dates between 50 B.C. and 50 A.D.

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