Metal detectorists unearth dazzling Anglo-Saxon gold-and-garnet raven head and ring: 'It's unbelievable — I'm a bit emotional'

A gold raven's head with inset garnet eye and a flattened gold ring with triangular garnets sit on a black cloth on a table.

While searching a field in southwest England, metal detectorists stumbled on the "find of a lifetime": two gold-and-garnet objects dating to around 1,400 years ago.

Paul Gould, a new detectorist with the Ninth Region Metal Detecting Group, hit on a flat metal object toward the end of a long day of detecting on Jan. 8. He thought the gold band, inlaid with triangular garnets and studded with tiny beads of gold, was an Anglo-Saxon ring.