Now, three years after the greenish lump of buried metal was pulled from the earth, and after about 30,000 coins have been extracted from it, experts have started to lift out large golden pieces of jewellery.
And on Monday the BBC’s popular evening programme The One Show visited La Hougue Bie, where the work is taking place in public, to film the process.
On Saturday staff began work to remove 15 golden objects.
- A silver ring
- A gold ring
- A small blue bead
- A one-centimetre-square fragment of woven cloth
- Fibres thought to have come from cloth bags containing the torques
- A 2,000-year-old millipede
The team, led by Jersey Museum Conservator Neil Mahrer, plan to extract two objects a day this week, before returning to separating the coins.
The process involves removing the surrounding coins until the gold is exposed and simply lifting the items away.
Mr Mahrer said: ‘It has been going really well and pretty much as we thought it would.
‘This weekend we got two large gold objects out each day and a couple of smaller ones.
‘We removed one of the two biggest torques – that was the first object.
‘We moved away the coins and by the time we had got to the torques, they were just lying there and could be lifted straight off.’
The One Show visited the Island to report on the discovery of the hoard in 2012 and their follow-up piece filmed on Monday is due to be broadcast on Tuesday evening from 7 pm.
After removal, the gold torques will be analysed before being cleaned.
It is believed that a reddish substance that has stained some of the items is an ancient resin, possibly beeswax, that was used to reinforce the jewellery from the inside.
Mr Mahrer explained that the cleaning process requires special tools to preserve the soft metallic pieces.
He added that Jersey Heritage would be taking advice from experts who have been dealing with the Staffordshire Hoard – the largest hoard of Anglo Saxon gold ever found – who had used hawthorn thorns to clean their artefacts.
Using natural materials for that project reduced the risk of scratching or scarring the valuable pieces with metal tools.
Jon Carter, the director of Jersey Heritage, said: ‘In the search for new stories about Jersey to attract visitors to increase our reputation, the Island’s amazing archaeology is really pulling its weight.
‘There is tremendous media interest from all over the world in the hoard and in our Ice Age programme at the moment.
‘That’s partly because the objects, like the hoard, are so stunning, but I think it’s also because they illustrate wider themes of European culture that put Jersey at the centre of a much bigger international story.’
- First each coins position is measured with a laser and the details are recorded.
- The coin is removed and treated with formic acid, which removes the greenish copper build up.
- Coins are then washed in six water baths.
- Extra cleaning is done by hand to reveal the coins design, but the process is not designed to polish them to a shiny finish.
- They are then photographed and identified for type or the tribe they represent. That information is stored on a computer database.
- Each coin is given a unique identity number and then stored.
