NEOLITHIC JEWELLERY

Two Late Neolithic or 'Copper age' gold 'hair' or basket' ornaments, Both have smooth matt-coloured surfaces with just occasional small scratches and scrapes revealing bright metal.1. An oval plaque, gently curved in profile, from which a short tang projects from the longer axis. The tang is almost doubled back resulting in some stress fractures and it also ends in a break. There is a small amount of damage around the perimeter of the plaque, one short stretch being curled inwards. A single row of 63 punched dots is inset by about 2 mm from the outer edge of the plaque, except on the side with the tang. The dots are punched from the concave face and are less than 0.5 mm across. Length: 39.7 mm; width: 34.0 mm; thickness of edge: c. 0.1 mm; thickness of tang 0.7 mm; weight: 6.2 g2. A plaque of similar shape and size to the first, but more distorted, the two ends being roughly turned inwards and the tang turned through a second tight bend so that its end is tucked into the crease. There are also some lesser creases. The tang end may again be torn and 68 dots are punched into the concave face inset from the edge. Length as curled: 25 mm; width: 34.1 mm; thickness of edge: 0.1 -0.2 mm; thickness of tang: c. 0.5 mm; weight: 6.4 g