A Museum Received Two Astounding Ancient Treasures. No One Knows Who—or When—They Came From. (2024)

The National Museum of Ireland recently received a surprising anonymous donation. Now, it needs to figure out where the gift came from—and not just to send a thank-you card.

Someone sending a box of Flahavan’s porridge to the National Museum of Ireland, the archaeology and natural history branches of which reside just north of the Croppies Acre in Dublin, would’t be the most unreasonable thing. After all, the milling company is a part of Irish history, founded in Kilmacthomas in 1785.

But what was inside that box wasn’t porridge at all. And it was far, far older than 1785.

Inside were two bronze axe heads “carefully packed using foam cut-outs and cardboard,” the National Museum of Ireland stated in a press release. “The NMI has been able to determine that these flat axe heads date to the Early Bronze Age,” the museum noted, “...around 2150-2000 BC, and represent a significant archaeological discovery.”

With the axe heads came a letter, stating that they had been “found in the Westmeath area using a metal detector,” and that the sender had hoped they could be conserved by the museum. But the letter gave no indication of who had sent it, nor where, precisely, they had found the objects.

But while this anonymous donor may have seen no issue with not disclosing any details about their discovery, it actually presents a problem for the museum:

“Given the significance of the objects, the find context—meaning the exact place in which the object is found—is of fundamental importance to their understanding and provenance. Distribution patterns of archaeological sites allow archaeologists to understand ancient settlements. For example, hoards or collections of objects are very important as Bronze Age people often deliberately deposited them in different landscape locations for important reasons such as attempts to intervene in the supernatural. Information on where they were found will contribute to a greater understanding of prehistory of Westmeath.”

That’s why the NMI has made a public appeal to this mystery donor to contact the museum directly with specific information about where these axe heads came from. “We are very excited about the discovery of these Early Bronze Age axeheads,” Assistant Keeper of Irish Antiquities Matt Seaver said, “...but we can only understand their true value by knowing their find location.”

The museum stresses that any information they receive that would clear up this mystery would be “treated in confidence,” and only used to verify the find location. And they need to make that assurance for the same reason this donor may have opted to be anonymous in the first place: the use of a metal detector.

“In Ireland,” the New York Times wrote in an article regarding the axe head find, “it is forbidden to use a metal detector to search for archaeological objects anywhere in the country without a permit.” The article goes on to note that the penalty for such a violation could involve a fine of more than 60,000 euros “or even three months in jail.”

For the museum’s part, though, this is not a ploy to ensnare whoever found these axe heads. The museum simply wishes to get more information to paint a fuller picture of these important Bronze Age artifacts.