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Construction workers in the United Kingdom recently unearthed a 300-year-old cannon during a routine day on the job.
The find was made during work in Kingston upon Hull, a city in East Yorkshire, according to an announcement earlier this year from the Hull City Council.
After the cannon was found, archaeologists from Humber Field Archaeology, a unit of Hull City Council, examined it.
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The cast-iron cannon likely dates to the late 17th century or early 18th century.
The artifact measures nearly nine feet long and weighs over a ton, officials said.
Construction workers in Kingston upon Hull uncovered a centuries-old cannon during routine work, surprising archaeologists and officials alike. (Humber Field Archaeology/Hull City Council)
“Initial observations indicate the cannon had been decommissioned, with the nozzle deliberately capped,” the announcement said.
“Archaeologists believe it was likely repurposed as a mooring post, a common practice in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before being pushed into the dock area prior to it being infilled in the 1930s,” the council noted.
Pictures show the iron cannon heavily encrusted with dirt and corrosion after being unearthed at the site.
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The discovery was “very unexpected,” said Peter Connelly, archaeology manager for Humber Field Archaeology.
Connelly told Digital the contractors “certainly weren’t expecting a cannon to turn up” — and didn’t even realize it was a cannon at first.
“The archaeologists weren’t expecting it because they knew that the deposit being dug into was dock backfill,” said Connelly. (Humber Field Archaeology/Hull City Council)
“The archaeologists weren’t expecting it because they knew that the deposit being dug into was dock backfill,” he said.
He observed, “This discovery just goes to show that people will deposit anything in a conveniently large hole in the ground when it is being backfilled.”
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While such finds are not unheard of, Connelly described the find as “definitely very rare.”
Hull archaeologists previously found a Henry VIII-era cannon in the late 1990s, as well as a fragment of a cannon from just before the English Civil War.
Experts say the cannon was likely decommissioned before being reused as a mooring post in later centuries. (Humber Field Archaeology/Hull City Council)
“This new cannon discovery is only the third of its kind in 30 years,” said Connelly.
Archaeologists were instead expecting typical 20th-century “domestic refuse,” he added, as well as the “occasional accidental loss.”
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“For example, a complete late 19th century glass decanter was recovered from the dock backfill — somebody was probably quite upset when they lost this,” Connelly recalled.
The archaeologist said the cannon showed clear signs of being deliberately decommissioned before being reused.
Past excavations have yielded items such as a late 19th-century glass decanter (seen at right), suggesting everyday objects were often lost in the dock area. (Humber Field Archaeology/Hull City Council)
“After the dock fell out of use, and as it was being backfilled and converted to a garden, this mooring post no longer had a function and the cannon was tipped with the backfill,” he said.
Researchers will analyze the cannon to see whether it was made in Hull, as the city had its own cannon makers in the late 18th century.
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“Further work is still to be carried out on the cannon to focus on when exactly it was cast, where it was made and hopefully find out who made it,” Connelly said.
