The Portable Antiquities Scheme

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CORONER'S REPORT

Description of object

1. Twisted gold penannular gold bracelet fragment. The bracelet is made on a rectangular-sectioned (4.1mm x 3.1mm) bar and has a plain unexpanded terminal. The edges and corners of the terminal are sub-rounded. The bracelet is twisted, giving the body of the bracelet a (concave-sided) lozenge-shaped profile. The bracelet has a comparatively loose twist (of 180 degrees on the fragment) and approximately one-third of the original length is represented. The break would appear to have been cut through a little over half the thickness and bent or twisted through the remainder. The curvature on the bracelet fragment is likely to be similar to the original.

Length - 40.0mm (Approximate straightened length - 58mm); Width- 4mm;Thickness - 3.1mm; Wt. 10.2g

Discussion

The penannular bracelet is of bar-twisted type characteristic dating to c. 1300-1100 BC known in Ireland and Britain. Eogan (1994, p50) classifies the form of bar bracelet as type iii. The bracelet fragment can be closely paralleled with two complete examples found at Saintjohns, Co. Kildare (Eogan, 1994, p 63, fig 27B 2-3, plate XII, Taylor 1980 ref. CoKd 9-10). Twisted gold bracelets and torcs have been found in fields in Wiltshire and throughout southwest England though they have tended to be deposited with accompanying gold objects (Roberts 2007).

Analysis to ascertain the elemental composition of the artefact was carried out using a CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM), plus an Oxford Instruments Link Isis energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The object was examined whole within the specimen chamber. The percentages presented are semi-quantitative only. Analysis suggests that the metal is composed of c. 86% gold and 12% silver. The composition is broadly consistent with Middle Bronze Age gold-working.

• Taylor, J J, 1980. Bronze Age Goldwork of the British Isles Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, pp.
• George Eogan, 1994. The Accomplished Art: Gold and Gold-Working in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze Age Oxford : Oxbow Books, pp50, 63.
• B. Roberts, 2007 Adorning the Living but Not the Dead: Understanding Ornaments in Britain c.1400-1100 cal BC, 73, pp..

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Audit data

Created: Tuesday 17th February 2009
Updated: Thursday 10th March 2011