PLOUGH’S ABOUT THAT? Farmer Finds Ancient Gold Jewellery While Planting Crops

A farmer in Turkey has found this ancient golden bracelet dating back 3,300 years to the Hittite civilisation while ploughing his field.

The bracelet, which is said to be one of a kind, was found by a farmer ploughing his field in the village of Citli, in the Mecitozu District of Corum Province, in what is now north-central Turkey, on the Anatolian Peninsula.

The farmer, who has not been named, reportedly did not even finish working in his field before he headed over to the Corum Museum and handed the item and other fragments of it over to experts there, who have since restored it.

A rare 3,300-year-old ancient bracelet from the Hittite era, that was discovered by a man ploughing his farm in Corum, Turkey. (Newsflash)

The museum also determined that the bracelet dates back 3,300 years, to the Hittite period.

The Hittites, as the Hittite Empire, were an ancient Anatolian civilisation who famously went to war with the Egyptian Empire and the Assyrian Empire between the 15th and 13th Centuries BC.

The bracelet, made of precious metals such as bronze, nickel, silver and gold also provided an important example of Hittite jewellery art.

A rare 3,300-year-old ancient bracelet from the Hittite era, that was discovered by a man ploughing his farm in Corum, Turkey. (Newsflash)

The Hittite bracelet is now part of the museum’s inventory and has been included in its collection.

Resul Ibis, one of the archaeologists of the Corum Museum, said that they presented the Hittite bracelet, which was referred to as the “Citli bracelet” in the literature, for the first time this year, during the exhibition and arrangement work they carried out in 2022.

Explaining that the bracelet was found by the farmer in 2012 and brought to the Corum Museum, Ibis said: “During the first evaluation, we realised that it is a unique work that we had not seen before. This artefact turned out to be a bracelet belonging to the Hittite Empire period of the 13th century BC.”

A rare 3,300-year-old ancient bracelet from the Hittite era, that was discovered by a man ploughing his farm in Corum, Turkey. (Newsflash)

Ibis added that the bracelet was damaged and deformed and that some parts were lost because it was found while the farmer was ploughing the field. He added: “We brought the remaining pieces together during the restoration and revealed the figures on it.

“This bracelet is a Hittite bracelet made of precious metals such as bronze, nickel, silver and gold. It is an important example of Hittite jewellery art. We do not have much information about jewellery in Anatolia in the 2nd millennium BC.”

Ibis said: “The number of pieces of jewellery recovered from Hittite cities where excavations were carried out is almost non-existent.”