Dannys Find Lights Up Rally

Danny Mills talks to John Winter

Photos supplied by John Mills

20-year old Danny Mills of Hornchurch in Essex was ecstatic after discovering a Roman lantern described by Suffolk FLO, Faye Minter, as an important and very rare archaeological find and the first almost complete example to be discovered in this country. She said that she had never seen one before. Previously, only fragments have been found from a few locations, including the Fishbourne Roman Palace in West Sussex and at Richborough Roman Fort near Sandwich in Kent, the first permanent Roman settlement in Britain. The importance of this find to the historical record cannot be underestimated. For example, the British Museum has eight examples of which only two are complete and all from high status villas in Pompeii. Ipswich museum suspect that Dannys lantern is most likely from an isolated burial, probably a cremation and investigations of the lantern and find spot continue. The local archaeological service was due to carry out a geophysical survey of the area and X-rays of the lantern and the clod of earth within will have been done by the time you read this article. What follows is Dannys own account of the discovery of his remarkable find: On Sunday 27 September, my Dad and I were kipping in the back of his van at a rally. It had been an uncomfortable night! Although it was a tad chilly when he woke me up for another days detecting, the

morning was bright and full of promise. Over a hasty breakfast, he informed me that he intended driving up to the Sunday fields with some mates. Now, Id spent a few hours previously on another field and found a little hot spot that produced a few Roman bronzes. I said Id stay put as I fancied trying my luck there again. So, off he went to meet up with friends and I eventually went to explore on my own. Alas, the signals were few and far between. In fact, by the time I reached my target area about half an hour later I only had two or three bits of lead dross to show for my efforts! Then my detector (an old Explorer XS) gave out a weak signal which I thought was most likely to be iron. Good signals were sparse and not expecting much, I dug out a spade of earth anyway, ran my coil expectantly over the hole and the signal seemed a little stronger. As the digging progressed, the sweet noise seemed to grow and grow in strength. Whilst engaged in this work, I glanced up and saw another detectorist walking towards me. I hadnt spoken to him before, but recognised him as Steve, one of my Dads friends. He remarked that I was digging very deep and I asked him if hed mind running his Goldmaxx over the target. He confirmed that it was a cracking signal so I started digging again, only this time with renewed energy and more conviction!

A couple of minutes later another detectorist came over and lent me a longer spade as I was struggling a bit. As I dug, my phone rang and it was Dad saying that there was a problem getting parked up on the new fields so they had decided to come back. I looked around and saw him coming towards me. At a depth of around 18 inches, I could see a piece of green wire or chain. By this time, other detectorists were on their knees peering into the hole; I was attracting quite a crowd. One remarked that it was an electric cable. Dad arrived and stared down looking very interested. When I told him it was my find, and looked very interesting, his face lit up. He picked up a spade and started to widen the hole. Then he got down on his hands and knees and, with Steves help, proceeded to pick and scoop away earth with bare hands until other detectorists arrived with smaller implements to carefully excavate whatever was in the hole. As more and more of the find was carefully exposed, onlooker and diggers alike became increasingly animated. I didnt have a clue what it was but I also felt really excited as the growing crowd of onlookers speculated as to what it could be. Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, Medievala bucket, urn? Once free, my Dad and Steve carefully lifted the object and placed it into a tray. Nobody was sure what it was. One or two people commented that it was shaped like a lantern, but nobody seriously suggested that it could actually be one.

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The Searcher December 2009

The tray was subsequently loaded onto the back of a truck, driven back to the campsite for others to see, and then stored in the farmhouse for overnight safe keeping. The rally organiser told us that he would contact the Finds Liaison Officer the following morning to arrange for someone to collect it. Dad and I stood in the field for a little while reflecting on what had just happened. I phoned my Mum and my girlfriend...Dad phoned Mum. We were both shaking. We made our way back to the campsite, stopping to talk to a few people along the way about what Id found. Dad was so excited and said he wasnt going to detect any more that day! When we got back to the site I logged onto the internet via my mobile phone. I typed in Roman Lantern and found very similar images from Pompeii, dated 1st century AD. I showed people and they were amazed and agreed that the pictures were very similar to the object I had found. Dad and I walked over to the farmhouse and the farmer kindly let us in to have another look at what I had found and it was taken outside in an effort to obtain some decent pictures. After we left the farmhouse we sat down and ate some lunch and then while Dad chose to sit in the warm sunshine talking to friends and re-living the mornings events

I went out to do a spot more detecting. I was rewarded with another Roman bronze and part of a brooch for my efforts! Id like to express my thanks to everybody who assisted in the recovery of this remarkable find. So, Dannys find, the only near complete example of a Roman lantern to be found in this country has attracted admiration and much comment. A fellow detectorist commented, I saw a young lad digging a very large hole, and thought he was optimistic judging by the way he appeared to be trying to return his Minelab to Australia! Well done. It just shows you shouldnt give up on really deep signals. Another said that Young Danny could teach a thing or two to those old-timers who thought they knew everything about detecting and wonders how many had walked over the find in the three days prior to its discovery. The lantern has been donated to the Ipswich Museum and Caroline McDonald, the Curator of Archaeology commented that the countrys foremost Roman researchers were queuing up to examine it. The object will now receive some remedial care to make it stable and conservation will probably start sometime in the Spring of 2010. Lets hope that when the lantern finally goes on permanent display, Young Danny

gets the recognition he deserves for making such an important and rare find! Incidentally, that was his Mum on the front cover of the October edition and his Dad is featured in this months Medley...family detecting success must be in the genes!

www.thesearcher.co.uk December 2009

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