RIBBON

CORONER'S REPORT

A Bronze Age gold ribbon fragment from Ansley, Warwickshire.

Circumstances of discovery

A gold ribbon ornament was found by Mr Simon Hall whilst metal detecting in August 1999 on the cultivated land owned by Mr Dave Goadby. The find did not appear to have any accompanying material though a pebble track heading in the general direction of the find had been ploughed out in living memory.

Description of object

1. Gold ribbon fragment. The object is a gold fragment of a parallel sided strip, or ribbon. One end is neatly broken forming a straight edge whilst on the other the corners have been rounded perhaps implying the original finish. The back is undecorated, while the front carries eleven very finely executed grooves aligned longitudinally.

Discussion

This object cannot be identified with total certainty, but similar multi-grooved ribbon ornaments of Bronze Age date and of varied sizes are known from north-west Europe; this provides the most likely cultural background. Narrow-ribbon ornaments from the Saint-Marc-le-Blanc hoard, Brittany, have fewer and correspondingly broader ribs/grooves (Eluère 1982, 91 Fig 107). They are finer on an earring from Saint-Père-en-Retz (Loire-Atlantique) (ibid. 1982, 53 Fig 63) and finer still on some Irish Bronze Age ornaments. Among the latter are examples in two important associations, from Saintjohns, Co Kildare, and Derrinboy, Co Offaly. The Derrinboy pieces have enhanced ribs along the long edges not present on the Ansley fragment (Eogan 1994, 63 Fig 27B plate XII). There have been several comparable fragments found recently in Britain at Fontmell Magma, Dorset (Treasure Report 2003, 16) and Flixton, North Yorkshire (Treasure Report 2003, 16) as well from The Hamel, Oxford (Palmer 1980). The latter was excavated from a layer which also yielded Beaker pottery dating to the late 3rd -early 2nd millennium BC.