JEWELLERY

A Copper Age (Chalcolithic) gold 'basket ornament', possibly a hair ornament or ear ring, cut from thin gold sheet into an elongated oval shape extending into a narrow tang. The piece has been flattened out and is crinkled both horizontally and vertically. The oval plate is delineated by two concentric grooves following the edge, and two grooves running the length of the tang. The space within the oval plate is filled by four zones of grooves running perpendicular to the long edges and bounded by the inner concentric groove, giving four filled and three plain zones symmetrically placed. The grooves are perceptible as raised lines on the other side.

Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface of a basket ornament from Cholsey, Oxfordshire, indicated a gold content of approximately 90-92%, a silver content of approximately 7-8% with less than 1% copper detectable at the surface.

Length of oval plate 44.64mm; length from top edge of plate to end of tang 46.17mm; width of tang closest to plate 3.83mm; length of tang 25.36mm; weight 1.47 grams.

This class of object belongs to the earliest phases of metallurgy in Britain. These are usually associated with burials and a very rare, dating to the earliest phase of the Bronze Age, c. 2400-2200 BC. Such objects are variously referred to as 'basket ornaments' or 'basket earrings', or 'hair rings'. They are in any case personal ornaments, and have been found in pairs in graves dating to the early Beaker period. Whether worn on hair, ears or items of costume, they were rolled into a basket shape in use.

In shape and decoration the Cholsey example falls into Needham's Atlantic Group B (ii) (Needham 2011). Closely similar ornaments were found in Beaker burials at Chilbolton, Hants and Radley 4a, Oxfordshire (Kinnes 1994). They date between circa 2400-2200 BC.Two other examples have been found in Radley, Oxfordshire, and are on display in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.