Cool Finds

An Archaeology Student Found a Medieval Gold Artifact During Her First Dig

The piece resembles another found in the same area four years ago

Sonja Anderson | Daily Correspondent

August 14, 2025

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Just an hour and a half into her first ever excavation, an American archaeology student has struck gold in Britain. Dating back to the ninth century, the small, ornate artifact she unearthed may have had a ceremonial purpose.

Florida-native Yara Souza, an undergraduate at Newcastle University in northern England, was digging alongside other students at Redesdale in Northumberland when she discovered the gold piece. According to a statement from the university, the 1.5-inch piece has a decorative finial at one end, and it appears to be from Britain’s early medieval period.

“I couldn’t believe I’d found something so quickly into my first ever excavation,” Souza says in the statement. “It was actually quite overwhelming.”

The dig’s location in Redesdale, a valley in Northumberland National Park, is near Dere Street, which was once a “major Roman road,” per the statement. Britain was part of the western Roman Empire for more than 350 years, from 43 C.E. until the early fifth century, when the declining empire fell. Roman soldiers laid Dere Street, also known as the “Great North Road,” between 79 and 81 C.E. They used it to colonize northern Britain: The path runs from modern-day York, England, to Firth of Forth, Scotland, which is today an over 200-mile drive.

In 2021, another gold object, similar to Souza’s find, was discovered in the same area of Redesdale by metal detectorist Alan Gray, per the statement. In the ninth century, gold was only possessed by elites, and Dere Street connected two major religious centers: Jedburgh and Hexham. Today the homes of abbeys, Jedburgh and Hexham’s Christian histories go back to the seventh to ninth centuries, when bishops built churches in both towns. Researchers think the gold objects might have been used by upper-class people for religious or ceremonial purposes.

“We know that Dere Street continued to be a major thoroughfare long after the Romans, and it’s clear from this discovery that high status people were using it,” says James Gerrard, an archaeologist at Newcastle University, in the statement. “It is possible that this pair of objects may have been deliberately buried.”

Souza, who is from Orlando, previously missed out on excavations at Birdoswald Roman Fort, a Roman military camp along Hadrian’s Wall, because she was ill. Her Redesdale find seems to have made up for that lost opportunity.

“After I’d had to miss Birdoswald last year, it was amazing to discover something that hasn’t been seen for more than a thousand years,” she says in the statement. “I was really geeking out over it.”

The two gold artifacts will be further studied before going on display in the Great North Museum: Hancock. As Andrew Agate, the museum’s finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, says in the statement, the collaboration between the university and museum allows students to be trained in archaeological techniques while investigating historical contexts.

“This project is a great example of how metal detectorists and archaeologists can come together to add to our understanding of the past in Northumberland,” Agate says.

Sonja Anderson | Read More

Sonja Anderson is a writer and reporter based in Chicago.