Description

Summary: A conical bone button found with secondary cremation (?) in bowl barrow Bromham G2, near Oliver's Camp, excavated by B.H. Cunnington.

Research results

A Bronze Age bone button found with a secondary cremation in bowl barrow Bromham G2, excavated by B.H. Cunnington in 1907. Bone buttons are rare in Britain but by comparison with European examples it can be suggested they are early in date and many may in fact have been imports. This button comes from a later context to the others and appears to have had a long use life, based on its wear perhaps originally incorperated into a necklace and subsequently utilised as a fastener.

This object was examined as part of the research published in Ritual in Early Bronze Age Grave Goods; a six-year research project carried out by Professor John Hunter and Dr Anne Woodward and funded by the Leverhulme Trust. Aided by a large number of other specialists the pair undertood an exhuastive study examining over 1000 objects held in 13 museums across the country in order to provide an extensive overview of burial practices in the period and identify regional practices.