Bronze Age Gold from Wales

The Caergwrle Bowl is a rare representation of a Bronze Age ship. We think the zig-zags around the base are waves and the long triangles are oars. The eye symbol protected sailors. The circles are the shields of its heroic voyagers. It speaks of connections: shale from Dorset, tin from Cornwall and gold from Ireland or Wales. It was placed beside the River Alun, which flows into the River Dee towards the Irish Sea.

Round-bottomed and oval in plan with decoration of applied and inlaid gold leaf suggesting the features of a sea-going boat with shields (or possibly sun-discs) below the gunwhales, oars, waves and apotropaic 'eyes' on the prow and the stern. The rim is covered with longitudinal strips of gold leaf engraved with fine transverse lines, and the upper part of the side of the bowl is covered by a horizontal strip of gold leaf 16.0mm in width, on which is a frieze of contiguous discs, each containing seventeen finely concentric circles, varying from 11.5mm to 15.0mm in diameter. The rest of the decoration is inlaid with gold leaf, bearing incised lines, wrapped around tin oxide and filling the incised patterns. Below the circles is a row of pendant triangles and below that are three horizontal zig-zags; along the keel of the bowl run two rows of narrow triangles, base to base and with the points upwards. The 'eyes' consist of deeply incised circles 15.0mm in diameter, with a central dot on each side of the main axis. Approximately half of the original bowl remains, the remainder having been restored.

Gwaelod crwn a hirgrwn gydag addurniad eurddalen wedi’i enosod yn awgrymu nodweddion llong gyda thariannau (neu efallai heulddisgiau) o dan y gynwalau, rhwyfau, tonnau a ‘llygaid’ apotropäig ar y pen blaen a’r starn. Mae stribedi eurddalen am i lawr wedi’u hengrafu â llinellau main ar draws. Mae rhan uchaf ochr y bowlen wedi’i orchuddio â stribed llorweddol o eurddalen 16.0mm o drwch, ac arno mae ffris o ddisgiau’n cydgyffwrdd, bob un yn cynnwys 17 cylch consentrig main, yn amrywio o 11.5mm i 15.0mm o ddiamedr. Mae gweddill yr addurnwaith wedi’i enosod ag eurddalen, gyda llinellau endoredig, wedi’i lapio o gwmpas tun ocsid ac yn llenwi’r patrymau endoredig. Islaw’r cylchoedd mae rhes o drionglau crog, ac o dan hynny mae tair llinell igam-ogam lorweddol; ar hyd cêl y bowlen mae dwy res o drionglau cul, yn pwyntio i fyny gyda’r gwaelodion yn cyffwrdd. Mae’r ‘llygaid’ yn gylchoedd wedi’u hendorri’n ddwfn, tua 15.0mm o ddiamedr, gyda smotyn canol bob ochr i’r brif echel. Mae tua hanner y bowlen wreiddiol wedi goroesi. Mae’r gweddill wedi cael ei adfer.

Project Title: Gold in Britain’s auriferous regions, 2450-800 BC: towards a coherent Research Framework and Strategy. Status: Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Network Grant funded project (2018-2019)

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