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January 8, 2026<\/p>\n
1 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Archeologists Just Found a 2,000-Year-Old Battle Trumpet That May Be Linked to Queen Boudica<\/p>\n This newly discovered Iron Age instrument may have been played in the Celtic resistance against the Roman Empire<\/p>\n By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 Norfolk Museums Service<\/p>\n It was supposed to be a routine excavation. But archaeologists who were called in last year to inspect a site before construction began at a residential property in West Norfolk, England, made a truly remarkable discovery: an approximately 2,000-year-old battle trumpet.<\/p>\n The Iron Age instrument, known as a carnyx, might once have been used by Celtic tribes in their war against the encroaching Roman Empire\u2014and perhaps even by the forces of the warrior queen Boudica.<\/p>\n Boudica led the Iceni tribe that once occupied parts of present-day Norfolk and is most famous for leading an ultimately unsuccessful battle against the Romans around C.E. 60 or 61. The archaeologists place the trumpet\u2019s age at around the same time as the queen.<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The carnyx is one of only three of its kind from Britain and is \u201cone of the most complete found in Europe,\u201d according to a statement from Historic England. It was found alongside a collection of other metal objects, including five shield bosses and a bronze boar\u2019s head that was likely used as a military standard.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Norfolk Museums Service<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing archaeology for over 40 years, and I\u2019ve never seen anything like this,\u201d said Mark Hinman, CEO of Pre-Construct Archaeology, which originally found the objects, to the Guardian. He described the discovery as \u201ca once-in-a-lifetime\u201d find.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are absolutely within the heartland of the Iceni\u2014whether it was they who buried the hoard or not, we just don\u2019t know,\u201d Hinman said. Still, the artifacts are \u201cof such quality\u201d that \u201cany important people from the Iceni and other groups would have known these objects.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" January 8, 2026 1 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Archeologists Just Found a 2,000-Year-Old Battle Trumpet That May Be Linked to Queen Boudica This newly discovered Iron Age instrument may have been played in the Celtic resistance against the Roman Empire By Jackie Flynn Mogensen edited by Claire Cameron \u00a9 Norfolk Museums Service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[17206,21961,820,21962,154,1850,21803],"class_list":{"0":"post-41007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-2000yearold","9":"tag-archeologists","10":"tag-battle","11":"tag-boudica","12":"tag-linked","13":"tag-queen","14":"tag-trumpet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
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