Forres family find 4500-year-old Bronze Age arrowhead while on holiday

A FAMILY from Forres made an unexpected discovery while on holiday recently - a 4500-year-old Bronze Age arrowhead.

James (14), Eva (8) and Michael Ryder (7) were walking along the beach at Applecross Sands on July 10 when Eva, who was collecting shells, noticed something strange in the sand.

At first she thought it was just another shell and was going to add it to her collection before James told her that it was, in fact, an arrowhead.

"We were just at a beach and we were at the base of this big sand dune," James said.

"I was walking about with my brother and sister when she picked this thing up and said something along the lines of adding it to her shell collection.

"But when I looked at it I knew immediately that it was an arrowhead."

After returning home with the arrowhead, the family got in touch with Treasure Trove Scotland - generally considered to be the first port of call for new archaeological discoveries.

Treasure Trove informed the family that they had found a barbed arrowhead from the early Bronze Age meaning it could date back anywhere between 4500 to 5000 years ago.

Applecross is also believed to be one of the earliest settled parts of Scotland which means the arrow was likely used by some of the very first people to settle on the west coast.

"I was pretty shocked when we found it," James said.

"You don't expect to find something from over 4000 years ago when you're walking along the beach.

"It was a total accident. My sister was just looking for shells.

"I'm sure whoever made the arrow didn't expect it to be found by someone thousands of years later but that's pretty cool to think about."

The family are planning on transporting the arrowhead to Treasure Trove in person to allow for an expert to take a proper look at the artefact.

"We're just waiting for our chance to bring it to them," James added.

"For now, we're just going to keep it very safe with us."