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As if in 'The Lord of the Rings', a Scottish citizen found a ring on the coast. His curiosity to live new experiences after having been an engineer, led him to collaborate with some excavations that were taking place in Burghead.
What he did not know is that his discovery could change his life.John Ralph, 68, discovered a piece more than 1,000 years old when he was just looking to the time. "I had just retired and saw an advert looking for volunteers to help with the Burghead excavations," he told the BBC.
A discovery worthy of 'The Lord of the Rings'
"My sister still lives in Burghead and I found it interesting, so I thought: why not? I've already been on three different digs there, each for two weeks", she explains about the reasons that led her to make this decision. Due to her inexperience, any discovery she made was received with a smile from ear to ear, but her colleagues warned her that these findings were part of normality.
"I enjoyed it immensely, but my initial enthusiasm for the finds was tempered by my tendency to get excited about shiny little stones. I found some interesting objects, including bone pins, and it was great to be part of the team, which was the real attraction," he told the BBC about his early days.
But every effort has its reward, and after a few days, John was to find a unique piece while cleaning the floor of a structure. "We could see that it was something really exciting, as despite being over 1,000 years old, we could see flashes of the possible garnet setting," his colleagues detail. What Ralph found was a ring belonging to the Picts, northern tribes that made up the largest kingdom of Dark Age Scotland.