Description

Summary: 1 miniature gold lozenge-shaped ornament decorated with three nested lozenge-shaped lines (engraved), found with a primary male inhumation (by right side) in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age gold Lozenge-Shaped plaque cover, excavated from Bush Barrow (Wilsford G5) by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare in 1808. The cover was probably originally fixed to a wooden core and may have been mounted onto the shaft of a macehead. It was found alongside bone mounts and a stone head from such a mace, to the right of a male inhumation; recent re-analysis of the original records has suggested that it was actually behind a crouched inhumation.

The Bush Barrow grave is discussed in detail by Needham et al. (2010), who return to Cunnington and Hoare's original notes and publications in order to reassess recontructions of the primary inhumation's layout. They argue for a more typical crouched inhumation, led on its left side, and possition the grave goods accordingly based on Cunnington's descriptions. Their new reconstruction highlights the distance of a small group of rivets and fragments from the rest of the group. Previously interpretted as a helmet or alidade, they reinterpret these as the remains of a dagger with a studded hilt, typical of a period earlier than the rest of the assemblage and suggesting the burial may have disturbed an earlier inhumation.

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.

This object was on loan to the University of Leicester (February 2023) for wear and compositional analyses. Non-destructive techniques using microscopes, X-Ray Fluorescence and a Scanning Electron Microscope. The project will improve our understanding about how the objects were made, used and deposited. This research, funded by the British Academy, was led by Dr Rachel Crellin, and supported by Dr Christina Tsoraki, Dr Oliver Harris and Dr Christopher Standish. 'From Prestige to Practice: Shedding New Light on Early Bronze Age Gold through Microwear and Scanning Electron Microscope Analysis'. Results are expected in 2024.