THE £2m Siemens CT scanner at the Borders General Hospital is a vital tool in the detection of serious illnesses, including cancer.

Now it has emerged that the state-of-the art diagnostic equipment has another, more unusual, application – in the fascinating world of archaeology.

And, as a result, the astonishing secrets of a 9th century bronze pot have been revealed.

The vessel was one of over 100 artifacts discovered earlier this year by metal detectorist Derek McLennan at an un-named site in Dumfriesshire.

When it was publicised last month, the find was described as “one of the most significant Viking hoards ever discovered in Scotland”.

The haul included an array gold and silver objects and decorative brooches.

One artifact, however remained a mystery – a small pot with a sealed lid which experts believed contained more objects.

From its ornate exterior, underneath layers of mud and verdigris, they knew it hailed from the west European Carolingian period between 780 and 900AD.

How, wondered the experts, could they discover the treasures within without damaging the priceless pot? That was when the call was made to Dr John Reid, consultant radiologist at Borders General Hospital. A keen archaelogist and chairman of the Trimontium Trust, Dr Reid had already, by arrangement with NHS Borders, used his free evening time to use the scanner to cast light on the past.

He had deployed the CT scanner to supervise the examination of the remains of a Roman soldier’s skull discovered at the Roman settlement at Newstead. From the images gleaned, a facial reconstruction was assembled and this now forms part of the permanent Trimontium exhibition in Melrose.

On another occasion, the skull of an Ice Age brown bear, uncovered in the west of Scotland, was scanned to enable a reproduction of the creature to be created.

Aware of this research, Richard Welander, head of collections with Historic Scotland, contacted Dr Reid and the pot was duly brought to the hospital for an evening scanning session – witnessed by Messrs Welander and McLellan.

They looked on in awe as the monitoring screen revealed the presence of five silver broaches, smaller gold ingots and ivory beads coated with gold – all wrapped in an organic material, possibly leather.

“When I saw the results on the screen I was reminded of the words of Sir Howard Carter when Tutankhamen’s tomb was opened in 1922 – 'I see wonderful things’,” said Mr Welander.

“We are all so grateful to the Borders General Hospital and Dr Reid for allowing us to forensically examine one of the key objects of the hoard.

“As with human patients, we need to investigate in a non-invasive way before moving onto delicate surgery. In this case, that will be the careful removal of the contents and the all-important conservation of these items.” Mr McLennan added: “The amount of detail you get from the scan was stunning and I was absolutely amazed at what’s inside the pot. It’s certainly given the experts much food for thought.” Dr Reid explained: “The conservationists did not want to guddle about and compromise this precious item from the Dark Ages. The scanner is both rapid and accurate with the ability to simultaneously produce 120 visual slices and is accurate to within half a milimetre.” “I should like to assure your readers that this work takes place outwith normal hours and in no way impedes the important work we do for our human patients.” Currently stored in the vault of a specialist archaeology conservation firm in Loanhead, the entire Viking hoard will eventually go on display at the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, a short video of the pot being scanned at the BGH is currently available on You Tube under the title “Scanning Viking Hoard”.