Bronze Age Gold from Wales
Middle Bronze Age gold bead
This is a biconical shaped gold bead made of thin sheet. A partial crack around the widest mid-section suggests that the bead may have been formed by fusing together two small hollow and cone-shaped fragments at their widest circumference. The outer holes, or apertures, were used for threading the bead. Originally circular, both have been damaged during or since burial. When discovered, an associated gold wire fragment extended inside the bead.
Collection Area
Item Number
Find Information
Site Name: Burton, Wrexham
Notes: Hoard. A hoard of fourteen gold, bronze and ceramic objects were found while metal-detecting in January 2004 in a recently ploughed field in the flood plain of the River Alun at Burton, near Wrexham. Thirteen of these objects were found within a 1.5-2m square area, while a fourteenth was found 24m away. All objects were found 5-20cm below the ground. Subsequently a small archaeological test pit was excavated, which clarified the location of some of the objects. It is possible the objects were deposited within a small ceramic vessel, though only a sherd of this still survives. Two further gold objects (2009.37H/1-2) were found while metal-detecting in August 2007 a few metres from the hoard findspot about 60cm below the surface and were deemed to also be part of this hoard.