Description

Summary: 1 conical gold button cover decorated with four bands of four engraved lines (with minute dots along them) around the cone and three of the same around the base which is perforated twice, found with a primary cremation in Bell Barrow Wilsford G8, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age gold sheet cover for a connical shale core found with a primary cremation in Bell Barrow Wilsford G8, excavated by William Cunnington. The cover is made of two parts: a conical front and flat 'back', and their decoration is also found engraved into the surface if the shale core within, although the process by which this was done is unclear. These elaborate gold buttons probably developed from earlier, smaller examples in jet and shale, however they were not necessarily put to the same use: the relatively plain apex and decorated base suggests that the base was in fact more visible and it may have hung as a pendant or toggle.

A similar gold-sheet button-cover was found associated with a cremation burial in Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland, where a sample of cremated human bone was radiocarbon dated to 1776-1601 cal BC: right at the early-mid Bronze Age transition.

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.