Minerva statue discovered in margarine tub

PanARMENIAN.Net - An ancient statue of the Roman deity Minerva was discovered in a margarine tub, where it had been languishing for years, CNN reports.

The Romano-British piece was brought to attention by amateur metal detectorist 66-year-old Len Jackman, who was visiting a local farmer in rural Oxfordshire. When Jackman sought permission to detect on his land, the farmer told him he was not the first to do so.

Jackman, a retired lorry driver, told CNN: "He invited me in to give me a map of his land and said he'd had other detectorists before. He then produced this statue out of an old margarine box, saying it was found on his land."

As an experienced detectorist, Jackman guessed that the statue -- which shared the box with some gold coins -- was Roman. But it would only be confirmed several months later, when he returned to show the farmer the discoveries he had made on his land.

"I told him I would take what I'd found to be identified and dated at the Museum Resource Centre in Standlake and he said if I was going I should take the stuff from the margarine tub. I said, 'I think you'll be getting a phone call!'"

Fortunately, Jackman recognized the significance of the lead and copper alloy statuette and took it to be assessed -- together with the other items he had uncovered.

On Tuesday, December 12 morning Jackman was invited to the British Museum in London, where the statue was introduced by arts minister Michael Ellis, as he presented the Portable Antiquities Annual report for 2017.

The artifact was just one of 78,000 archaeological items that were unearthed by the British public last year and voluntarily recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is managed by the British Museum. More than nine out of 10 of these items (93 per cent) were found by metal detectorists like Jackman.