Archeologists Just Found a 2,000-Year-Old Battle Trumpet That May Be Linked to Queen Boudica

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old battle trumpet that could be linked to Queen Boudica

By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron

It was supposed to be a routine search. But archaeologists who were called in last year to inspect a site before construction began on a residential property in West Norfolk, England, made a truly remarkable discovery: a battle trumpet approximately 2,000 years old.

The Iron Age instrument, known as a carnyx, may have once been used by Celtic tribes in their war against the invading Roman Empire, and perhaps even by the forces of the warrior queen Boudica.

Boudica led the Iceni tribe which once occupied parts of present-day Norfolk and is most famous for fighting an ultimately unsuccessful battle against the Romans around 60 or 61 CE. Archaeologists place the age of the trumpet around the same time as that of the queen.

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The carnyx is one of only three of its species native to Britain and “one of the most complete found in Europe”, according to a release from Historic England. It was found alongside a collection of other metal objects, including five shield bosses and a bronze boar’s head which was probably used as a military standard.

“I’ve been doing archeology for over 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Mark Hinman, CEO of Pre-Construct Archaeology, which originally found the objects, at Tutor. He described the discovery as “a once-in-a-lifetime discovery.”

“We are absolutely in the heart of the Iceni. Whether they were the ones who buried the treasure or not, we just don’t know,” Hinman said. Yet the artifacts are “of such quality” that “any important person from the Iceni and other groups would have known of these objects.”

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