BRONZE AGE JEWELLERY

TREASURE CASE 2015 T72. Two Copper Age (Chalcolithic) gold 'basket ornaments', possibly hair ornaments or ear rings, cut from thin gold sheet into an elongated oval shapes.The first ornament (Ornament 1) has a thin rectangular tang projecting from one long edge, and is now folded over back in towards the centre of the sheet. It is missing its terminal end.This ornament is damaged, missing c. 25% of the gold sheet. It is decorated on one side only with simple incised lines; two running around the outer edge of the ornament, and two sets of double lines width-ways across the middle either side of the tang. There appears to be several small punched dots arranged over two lines and restricted to the long edge opposite the tang.Ornament 2 is complete and it has suffered little damaged. Again the gold sheet is broadly oval in plan, although one end is wider than the other. Interestingly there is a short rounded tang projecting from one edge near to the wider (here the 'upper') end; it is best described as a tab that has been pierced centrally with a small sharp circular implement. The piercing has been made from the reverse (undecorated) side through to the front (decorated) side. The decoration onOrnament 2is similar to that of the first, with two or three thin incised lines running around the outer edge of the lower third of the ornament. These are not well executed and it appears that attempts were made to correct misaligning. The upper third of the ornament as five incised lines arranged horizontally across the width of the ornament. As on the first ornament, there appears to be multiple punched dots, made with a fine-tipped implement in a rough line around one side (the left side). Both ornaments have been flattened out and are crinkled both horizontally and vertically.It is possible that the Ornament 2 has been reused and reshaped. It has the same decorative style as Ornament 1 and as others known, however the tab appears to be the first example noted. The thickening of one end of Ornament 2 may actually be the central element of a typical basket ornament, but having been recut, removing the opposing end. The tang appears to have been reshaped into a tab and pierced.The object would then not function as a hair or earring ornament in the fashion assumed other examples do. Although the new function or application of Ornament 2 is unclear, it is intimately associated with Ornament 1. There are several examples of singular discoveries of basket ornaments that have been tightly folded, many often incomplete and assumed to have an altered use, possibly as beads or in the case of the Amesbury Archer's Companion,possibly adeliberate post-mortem deposition within the mouth. One example fromChalbourn on theIsle of White is missing its tang butthe foil hasbeen pierced twice near the break (IOW-B16625).This class of object belongs to the earliest phases of metallurgy in Britain. These are usually associated with burials and a very rare, dating to the earliest phase of the Bronze Age, c. 2400-2200 BC. Such objects are variously referred to as 'basket ornaments' or 'basket earrings', or 'hair rings'. They are in any case personal ornaments, and have been found in pairs in graves dating to the early Beaker period. Whether worn on hair, ears or items of costume, they were rolled into a basket shape in use.In decoration the Whitchurch examples fall into Needham's Atlantic Group B (ii) (Needham 2011). Closely similar ornaments were found in Beaker burials at Chilbolton, Hants (Russell 1986)and Radley 4a, Oxfordshire (Kinnes 1994). They date between circa 2400-2200 BC.Ornament 1: Length of oval plate 35.90mm; length from top edge of plate to fold in tang 5mm; length of tang from fold to end 10.94mm; width of tang closest to plate 4.66mm; weight1.1 grams.Ornament 2: Length of oval plate 32.00mm; lengthoftab 3.26mm; width of tab closest to plate 3.83mm; weight 1.1 grams.