For over a century, an unremarkable lump sat in a British Museum drawer; a 2013 X-ray revealed a rare Celtic brooch buried with a Viking-era Norwegian woman

A fascinating discovery at the British Museum includes a lump of soil, wood, and metal that holds a Celtic brooch from the eighth or ninth century. This ancient jewelry is linked to Viking burial traditions. Following their raids, Vikings astutely transformed sacred church artifacts into symbols of status, indicating a timeline of activity in Britain that may precede prior assumptions.