Boy, 8, stumbles upon perfectly preserved 4,000-year-old deer antler

[Neil]

A young fossil enthusiast found a deer’s antler dating back 4,000 years as he walked along a Cumbrian beach.

Jamie Cassidy, 8, said he spotted what looked like a stick poking through the shingle at South Walney.

As he dug it out, he realised it was an ancient antler, 3ft high and perfectly preserved. Experts say it could date from the Bronze Age, when red deer were widely hunted in the area.

Jamie, of Ormsgill, Barrow, said: 'It was kind of sticking out of the stones. I started brushing the stones away and found it was an antler.

'I went on this guided walk with my mam and ... Dave Coward (amateur archaeologist) on South Walney, and he said if you ever find an antler it would be about 4,000 years old.

'I rang the bird sanctuary and told them about it and they have got a pair.
'They said that before the Medieval Times that area was one big forest and red deer would have been killed or hunted.'

His other discoveries include arrow heads, close to where he stumbled upon the antler.
 
During the medieval period the Furness Peninsula was farmed by the monks of Furness Abbey - and the young enthusiast says if you dig deep enough there is more treasure to be found, and he plans to continue his search.

'We stay in a caravan at South Walney and I’ve got a big tub of belemnites and ammonites which I’ve found,' he said.
'Belemnites are long fossils that look like ice-cream cones and ammonites are fossils which curl round.
'People say they can be over a million years old.'