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ONLINE LECTURE: Mycenean Gold-working and parallels in Brittany and Wessex: New Research


By Nikolas Papadimitriou (Heidelberg University), with Akis Goumas (Visiting Artist, Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies) and research contributions by Eleni Konstantinidi-Syvridi (National Archaeological Museum, Athens) and Maria Kontaki, (National Archaeological Museum, Athens).

Lecture jointly organised with the Prehistoric Society.

 

Between the 17th and the 15th c. BC a demanding gold-working technique was used for the decoration of prestigious weapons in Mycenaean Greece. Known as “gold-embroidery”, the technique consisted in the application of minute (< 3 mm long) L-shaped gold bars on the organic hilts and pommels of daggers and swords. The gold bars were used to create decorative motifs themselves, or to form a gold plateau, upon which spirals were engraved. The technique is attested only in very rich Mycenaean tombs, including Shaft Graves IV and V at Mycenae, the tholos tombs of Vaphio and Dendra, and the recently discovered “Griffin Warrior tomb” at Pylos.

A quite similar technique for the decoration of daggers is known from Bush Barrow, Britain’s richest Bronze Age burial close to Stonehenge. There are other examples from a burial at Hammeldon Down (Dartmoor) and in several Armorican tumuli of the Early Bronze Age. The Wessex and Armorican examples predate the Mycenaean examples perhaps by a century.

In this online lecture, Nikolas Papadimitriou presents the Mycenaean technique and discuss possible affinities with the Wessex and Armorican “gold-stud decoration”. Then, the artist Akis Goumas will present the experimental reconstruction of the two techniques and comment on the making process, the tools used and the skills required.

Nikolas Papadimitriou and Akis Goumas visited the Wiltshire Museum in 2018 to study the Bush Barrow dagger during their research.

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion with a range of experts from across Europe to discuss this important topic:

  • Alison Sheridan (representing the Prehistoric Society) – recently retired as Principal Archaeological Research Curator in National Museums Scotland /li>
  • Barbara Armbruster – University of Toulouse  – researching prehistoric gold with an expert knowledge of Bronze Age finds from Brittany
  • Chris Standish – University of Southampton – researching the provenance of Bronze Age gold in Britain, including recent research on the Bush Barrow dagger studs

 

Find out more about Bush Barrow, the remarkable dagger and recent gold analysis from this link.

 

 

 

 

 

  • 1st April 2021
  • 7:30 pm - 7:30 pm
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