Man finds 3,500-year-old jewellery along with a bunch of teeth in his carrot field

Life surprises in ways one can't imagine. A man in Switzerland while scanning through his carrot field found an ancient jewellery set, that dates back to the Bronze Age. Swiss man, Franz Zahn was searching a freshly-plowed carrot field with a metal detector when he hit a jackpot and found large ornate jewellery. He was surprised to find the antique ornament set with other items such as a bear’s tooth, a beaver’s tooth and a fossilised shark’s tooth.

Zahn made the unusual discovery in August while he was in Guttingen in a freshly harvested carrot field. Guttingen is about 50 miles northeast of Zurich. Initially, Zahn found a bronze disc, and immediately realised that it was an “extraordinary discovery”, so he contacted local authorities.

Unusual discovery of Bronze Age jewellery

The team of experts identified the jewellery from the Middle Bronze Age, which dates back to about 1500 BC, officials said. Archaeologists later excavated a block of soil where the discovery was made and found a host of other artefacts, including rings, wire spirals made of gold and more than 100 amber beads.

Experts also made some other “surprising” finds - a bronze arrowhead, a beaver tooth, a bear tooth, a rock crystal and a small ammonite.

In total, eight spirals made of gold and 14 bronze spiked discs with grommets were recovered, indicative of “costume jewellery” worn by women about 3,500 years ago, according to the news release.

Local officials said that the unusual discovery triggered several questions: "Has a jewellery box been hidden here? Were the bear tooth, the rock crystal and the selected fossils and stones a collection of curiosities or souvenirs … ? Or is there more to it?"

Experts noted that the array of objects was said to have “a special protective or healing effect” and may have been worn as a kind of amulet.

The artefacts are being restored so that they can be exhibited in the Museum of Archaeology in Frauenfeld, Switzerland.

This is not the first time that ancient treasures have been unearthed in an unexpected event. Earlier this month, two sets of coins were found by metal detectors in Wales, which then turned out to be Roman treasure.

In September, a Norwegian family looking for a lost earring in their garden instead discovered artefacts dating back more than 1,000 years.

(With inputs from agencies)

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