Rights Holder: The Portable Antiquities Scheme
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Unique ID: LANCUM-449151
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation
The lunula terminal is complete yet somewhat bent, the only break showing where it broke off of the main part of the broad, crescent-shaped collar.
The terminal weighs 6.86g and has the dimensions of 47.48x25.97x0.63mm. No surface metal analysis was carried out but the precious metal content (gold) will be more than 10%.
The lunula terminal was found whilst out metal-detecting on farmland near Brampton, Cumbria.
The terminal (or 'horn') consists of a flat part which is shaped like the bowl of a spoon which is connected by a short 'stalk' to an elongated part with flat-rectangular cross-section which would have extended into the large, crescent-shaped collar. The bowl-shaped end is undecorated on both sides, but the strip displays a decoration of parallel lines on the obverse whilst being undecorated on the reverse. The lines are incised and were applied to run parallel to the sides of the fragment and along the top of the flattened part. They form roughly one half of a set of 'boxes'. The incised lines of the outermost 'box' have an additional decoration of very small squares which were applied with a small punch at irregular intervals over the incised line.
The 'stalk' which connects the flat collar and bowl-shaped terminal has a round cross-section and is twisted at a 90 degree angle (as the other terminal or 'horn' would have been). This was necessary for the two terminals to interlock when the lunula was worn.
Although common in Ireland, lunulae are very rare Bronze Age gold objects found in the British Isles and northwest France. They date from around 2200-1700BC and are thus c. 4000 years old.
Only few are known from Scotland and this is the first lunula fragment from Cumbria. A small number have also been found in Cornwall and Brittany, France. In contrast to some of the Scottish lunulae and this new fragment from Brampton, original Irish lunulae were made from extremely thin gold sheet (less than 0.1mm thick). They are very fragile and much less substantial than these thicker lunulae which Taylor classified as 'Provincial type lunulae' (Taylor 1970, 74ff). Original Irish sheet lunulae were so thin that they could be rolled and folded (Cahill pers. comm.), but the new fragment from Brampton was, similar to the complete lunulae from Auchentaggart, (Dumfries, Scotland) and Orbliston (Elginshire, Scotland) (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland: NMX.FE3 and NMX.FE2), made from a thicker sheet of gold.
The two lunulae from Auchentaggart and Orbliston are the most useful parallels to our fragment from Brampton: Although, unlike ours, complete, the lunula from Auchentaggart displays a repair at one terminal and the lunula from Orbliston is missing the greater part of one terminal whilst the second has broken off. Both objects are very fragile and difficult to handle with the transition from terminal to collar being their weakest point and clearly prone to breaking. Interestingly, the broken-off terminal of the Orbliston lunula is of similar dimensions and weight (6.06g) to the new fragment from Brampton (6.86g). The two above-named lunulae also display a similar decoration to that of the fragment from Brampton which is not as clear and neat as the decoration on the original Irish lunulae. 'Provincial' lunulae are usually decorated with an untidy pattern of parallel lines and 'boxes', dotted with elongated, square and round punches making up lines, zigzag lines or bundles of short, incised lines). All decoration is geometrical and not figural. The decoration of Irish and Scottish (and now, Northern English) is sufficiently similar to assume that the Scottish and Northern English lunulae were copies of the original Irish ones.
As far as we can tell from old find reports and museum records, most lunulae were found singly or, rarer, in pairs, deposited on their own or possibly in a box or pouch. They are usually complete, even though the terminals are broken off. Lunulae have not been found within clear grave or hoard contexts and are thus generally considered to be single depositions.
Notes:
The lunula terminal from Brampton, Cumbria, would therefore qualify as Treasure under two of the stipulated criteria of the Treasure Act: it is more than 300 years old and the precious metal content (in this case gold) exceeds 10%.
This is a find of note and has been designated: National importance
Current location of find: Landowner donated his share to Tullie House Museum
Subsequent action after recording: Acquired by museum after being declared Treasure
Treasure case tracking number: 2008T136
Broad period: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod from: Early
Period from: BRONZE AGE
Subperiod to: Early
Period to: BRONZE AGE
Date from: 2400 BC
Date to: 2000 BC
Quantity: 1
Length: 47.48 mm
Width: 25.97 mm
Thickness: 0.63 mm
Weight: 6.88 g
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Other reference: 50 Finds from Cumbria
Treasure case number: 2008T136
Primary material: Gold
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Fragment
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
No references cited so far.