Metal Detectorist Discovers Potential 2,000-Year-Old Divination Spoon

If you had to imagine an object that could tell the future, you’d probably envision a crystal ball or a deck of Tarot cards—not a utensil. Nevertheless, experts on the Isle of Man have revealed an artifact that might be exactly that: a divination spoon.

A metal detectorist has unearthed an ancient bronze spoon that Iron Age people may have used to forecast the future approximately 2,000 years ago. While this is the 28th potential “divination spoon” known to scholars worldwide, it’s the first to emerge on the Isle of Man, shedding light on ritual practices that may have taken place on the island.

“Dating to around 400-100 [BCE], this bronze spoon is one of the most intriguing objects ever discovered on the Island. Iron Age finds are relatively scarce, with bronze spoons dating to this period rare, making this find all the more remarkable,” said Allison Fox, archaeology curator for Manx National Heritage, in a statement by the heritage management charity. Metal detectorist Rob Middleton and the owner of the land where Middleton found the spoon donated the artifact to the Manx National Collections at the Manx Museum.

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“Although it sounds rather plain because we call it a spoon, it really is an unusual find illustrating potential prehistoric ritual activity taking place on the Isle of Man,” Fox added. Barring the discovery of an ancient Iron Age spoon manual, it’s impossible to tell exactly what purpose these artifacts served. However, researchers suggest it was used to predict the future in divination rituals, according to the statement.

The spoon features a wide, circular handle adorned with small spiral decorations and a strawberry-shaped bowl etched with a faint cross. The two lines that make up the cross intersect in the deepest part of the bowl.

“The spoons are usually found in pairs, and it has been suggested that liquid of some form would have been poured into the spoon which has the cross, and whatever quarter it landed in would tell something about the future. The details of such ceremonies have been lost in the midst of time,” Fox continued. “Donations such as this really help us explore what our ancestors were up to, and this find in particular puts the Isle of Man firmly on the map of Iron Age ritual.”

During the Isle of Man’s Iron Age (around 500 BCE to 500 CE), inhabitants typically lived in small communities, residing in wooden or stone huts, according to the statement. Though the statement doesn’t link the spoon to a specific ancient culture, it seems likely that it would have been used by Celtic tribes, given that they were one of the island’s earliest inhabitants.

It remains to be seen whether future archaeological findings will confirm the utensil’s ritualistic role—or perhaps reveal that it was just a strawberry-shaped spoon all along!