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Middle Bronze Age gold bracelet
This is a complete gold bracelet made from six twisted gold wires aligned next to each other lengthways, soldered intermittently to adjacent wires. Together, these wires form a narrow band that was tightly coiled in two concentric spirals with a projecting 'tail', to fit it into a pottery vessel, in which it was buried with associated artefacts. At each end is an angular flat-ended gold terminal enclosing the ends of the gold wires. Originally, this would have formed a bracelet about 4.8-6.0cm in diameter, with a probable gap between the ends.
Twisted gold wire bracelet, 1300-1150 BCE. Wales was at the heart of a tradition of gold-working in Atlantic Europe during the Middle Bronze Age. This bracelet was among objects found in a pottery vessel at Burton near the River Alun. It is made of six twisted gold wires.
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)
WA_SC 18.1
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What is personal use?Personal Use – images can be used by the person downloading them for research, study or creating learning resources. Images cannot be used for commercial purposes.
For all other uses and formats please contact images@museumwales.ac.uk
What is personal use?Personal Use – images can be used by the person downloading them for research, study or creating learning resources. Images cannot be used for commercial purposes.
For all other uses and formats please contact images@museumwales.ac.uk
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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 were found while metal-detecting in August 2007 a few metres from the hoard findspot and were deemed to also be part of this hoard.
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