The Basse-Yutz Flagons were made about 2,500 years ago.

Evidence

Nothing quite like them had ever been found in western Europe before, and the strangeness of their style and decoration led many experts to assume that they must be fakes. But the curators at the British Museum were convinced that they were genuinely ancient; that they represented a new, unknown chapter in European history. So the flagons were acquired for the then colossal sum of £5,000. Betting the bank on this kind of acquisition is a huge gamble on curatorial knowledge, but in this case it paid off, and research has since confirmed they were indeed made about 2,500 years ago, that is, at roughly the time that the Parthenon was being built in Greece, the Persian Empire was at its zenith and Confucius was teaching in China. The Basse-Yutz Flagons are now celebrated as two of the most important and earliest pieces of Celtic art anywhere. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 470

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 470
• XREF: connects to: The Basse-Yutz Flagons were discovered in 1927 in Basse-Yutz, France. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 470

Broader Connections

• The Basse-Yutz Flagons were discovered in 1927 in Basse-Yutz, France. #expands (0.80) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 470