Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• A licensed metal detectorist searching in southeastern Poland discovered a rare Bronze Age hoard of 18 bracelets and anklets.
• Many of the artifacts came as identical pairs, all crafted in bronze and weighing a total of nearly eight pounds.
• The objects were crafted in a distinctive style by people from the Lusatian culture, making the collection a rare find.

A licensed metal detectorist uncovered a rare find buried in a foot down in the soil of southeastern Poland: a Bronze Age hoard of 18 bracelets and anklets. The entire stash (dated to between 550 and 400 B.C.E.) was carefully tucked away together, leaving archaeologists to wonder why such a valuable collection was left in the ground 2,500 years ago.

According to a translated statement from the Lublin Voivodeship Conservator of Monuments, the metal detectorist reported his find, and archaeologists from Zamość and Krakow went out to examine the site. In total, they uncovered 18 bracelets and anklets, all made of bronze and weighing nearly eight pounds in total.

The decorative pieces, which were crafted in the Lusatian cultural style, adds another wrinkle. Finding a hoard in that style is rare for the Zamość region of what is now Poland, even though the ancient culture was known for its bronze work in many regions of Europe.

The heavy bracelets and anklets were made from bronze pieces—often a single rod, twisted, carved, and engraved for added decoration. Many of the pieces came with an identical twin, which could have served as matching sets for both wrists and ankles. The artifacts also featured clasps and were reportedly in good condition.

Many of the bracelets and anklets were smooth on the inside, with patterned engravings on the outside—typically geometric shapes and lines—that sometimes completely covered the artifacts with impressive precision. Workers opted for grooves, chevrons, and other geometric shapes, mixing multiple styles and designs onto one piece. A few of the objects also featured engraving on the interior, while others had no engravings at all.

One bracelet-anklet pair featured nodules protruding on the exterior, with the bronze apparently pushed through from the concave inside to gain the desired effect on the outside. Krakow professor Wojciech Blajer called the Lusatian designs a display of highly skilled craftmanship.

Experts are unsure who owned the hoard. The Lusatian culture—which existed from 1300 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E. in what’s now Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, and Ukraine—was known for its fortified settlements near water sources. The Lusatians were typically focused on agriculture and animal husbandry, but they also worked in bronze and other crafts (pottery was particularly popular), and their locations along key trade routes integrated their work into multiple cultures.

The 18 bracelets and anklets were likely intentionally placed together, and were potentially buried as a way to preserve a personal treasure, though there’s always the possibility of a ritual burial. Experts said that the hoard would have belonged to a high-status individual, given the fine craftsmanship and value of such a large collection of bronze goods.

The hoard is now at the Zamość Museum, where conservators will study the bronzes’ composition and craftsmanship, hoping to coax new secrets from objects that have been hiding underground for two and a half millennia.