Talk about striking gold! Boy, 12, discovers a 2,000-year-old gold Roman ... trends now

Rowan Brannan, 12, was walking with mum in Pagham when he spotted the band The Roman bracelet has since been studied by the British Museum

Published: 11:49 BST, 4 April 2024 | Updated: 11:49 BST, 4 April 2024

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A boy has discovered a rare gold Roman bracelet in a field where it had lain for 2,000 years.

Rowan Brannan, 12, was walking with mum Amanda, 44, when he spotted the band dating back to the first century - 1AD.

Stunned Rowan, from Bognor, Sussex, found the 'exceptionally rare' gold treasure during a dog walk in the Pagham area.

The Roman bracelet of armilla type has since been studied by the British Museum.

Amanda said: 'Rowan has always been into finding all sorts of bits and pieces, he's very adventurous and is always picking stuff up off the floor.

A boy has discovered a rare gold Roman bracelet in a field where it had lain for 2,000 years

Rowan Brannan, 12, was walking with mum Amanda, 44, when he spotted the band dating back to the first century - 1AD

What are Roman armilla bracelets?

In the Roman empire, bracelets were usually worn by ladies as a sign of rank.

Men did not tend to wear bracelets, as they were considered a mark of effeminacy.

However, they were publicly conferred by a Roman general to soldiers for deeds of extraordinary merit.

In this case, the bracelets - known as armilla bracelets - were worn as a mark of honour.

'I'm forever saying "put it down, it's dirty" - but on this occasion he kept holding this bit of metal, convinced that it was actual real gold.

'I thought it was just some strapping from a fence or something - it was very dirty.'

Rowan said: 'It was just normal to me because I pick up a lot of things that I probably shouldn't!'

Rowan took the piece home and researched how to tell whether it was real gold.

It met all the criteria on the checklist - but the two did not realise Rowan's lucky find was anything more until a