Description

Summary: 4 segmented faience beads found with a primary cremation under an inverted MBA urn in disc barrow Winterbourne Stoke G68, excavated by William Cunnington.

Research results

Faience beads in Britain and Ireland were discussed by Sheridan and Shortland (2004) in their reassesment of the evidence as part of the National Museum of Scotland's faience project. This project obtained new radiocarbon dates for a number of burials containing faience beads across the country, pushing back the presumed date of the appearance of faience beads in Britain to c. 2,000 BC, with a currecny lasting to around 1,500BC. Their reanalysis of the composition and production of these beads has suggested that they were infact produced in Britain, rather than imported as was previously assumed, and may be linked to the tin trade of South-Western Britain.

Four Bronze age faience segmented beads, fopund with a primary cremation in disc barrow Winterbourne Stoke G68, excavated by William Cunnington. The beads were found with a pair of shale rings and together were probably strung as a simple necklace. A very similar necklace set was found with a primary cremation in bowl barrow Durrington G47. Although commonly found with cremations, necklace groups containing multiple faience beads are unusual nationally, and are mostly limited to the Wessex region.

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.