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Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
This corrugated gold sheet is of probably Early Bronze Age date due to its gold content and design.
It is not possible to be certain of the strip's function, however it does share stylistic and technical similarities with other items reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme. They could possibly has been intended to adorn the hilts of pommels of bronze daggers, as is seen in Scotland and Ireland.
Semi-quantitative surface XRF analysis of the outer surface of this artefact revealed the following mean composition: 92.18% gold, 6.58% silver. 0.60% lead, 0.49% copper and 0.16% arsenic This percentage of copper best fits with other gold artefacts of Early Bronze Age date analysed from Wales, with a copper composition range of 0.2-1.0%.
This is a fragment of a straight-sided and slightly tapering sheet strip of gold which has eight, impressed and scribed longitudinal lines, created from the reverse surface, producing a corrugated effect of ridges and troughs on both sides of the strip.
The distance between the inscribed troughs varies slightly, though in the 1.5-3mm range. One end of the strip is slightly wider (c. 16.4mm), with the sides converging slightly towards the opposing end (c. 13.7mm). The strip is folded over along both long side-edges, producing slightly thicker edges (approx. 0.5mm thickness), the folded over widths varying along their respective lengths (c. 0.7-2.8mm and c. 0.7-4.8mm).
The narrower end of the strip has a straight and uniform edge, suggesting that the strip was cut with a sharp and straight-edged tool. This may have been a deliberate and simple terminal, or a careful cutting of the strip prior to its burial.
The break-edge along the widest end appears is irregular with jagged edges, indicating that it has been broken and that part of the original object is now missing.
The fragment has been folded into thirds, probably during or since burial in the ground, the strip now having a roughly Z-shaped profile in side-view. There are frequent small tears where the strip has been partially folded, with one larger tear visible across one face and extending across approximately one-third of the strip’s width. Both faces have a yellow-gold patina, but the reverse face, where the folded long edges are visible, appears slightly paler and dulled in appearance. Small quantities of soil are still visible within some of the recesses/creases.
Site Name: Grosmont, Monmouthshire
Notes: The findspot is located on a south facing hillside approximately 50m to the north of a stream channel which flows through the base of a small valley. The finder's account described a ploughed-out mound located near to the findspot, with reports of 'burnt wood' being found at depths of approximately 30cm below the ground surface.
