Description

Summary: 1 gold belt hook decorated with four nested rectangular bands of three engraved lines, found with a primary male inhumation (near right arm) in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age gold sheet belt-hook cover excavated from Bush Barrow (Wilsford G5) by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare in 1808. One of the grave goods associated with the extremely rich primary burial, this is probably the 'curious article of gold' which Cunnington suposes had decorated the scabbard of one of the daggers near which it was found. This complex object comprises of two elements: the hook and the back plate, these were separately made and would have each been wrapped around an individual wooden core. The hook was then passed through a hole in the back plate, with this process requiring a small 'flap' to be cut to allow it to fit through. This is probably an extremely elaborate equivalent of contemporary bone belt hooks, which have typically been assumed to have served as fasteners. The recent identification of a copper alloy example affixed to a dagger from Wilsford G23 by corrosion products provides new insight into its possible use, suggesting it may have seccured the scabbard of one of these daggers to a belt; a suggestion supported by its positioning in the grave and by evidence of wear around the hook.

The Bush Barrow grave is discussed in detail by Needham et al. (2010), who return to Cunnington and Hoare's original notes and publications in order to reassess recontructions of the primary inhumation's layout. They argue for a more typical crouched inhumation, led on its left side, and possition the grave goods accordingly based on Cunnington's descriptions. Their new reconstruction highlights the distance of a small group of rivets and fragments from the rest of the group. Previously interpretted as a helmet or alidade, they reinterpret these as the remains of a dagger with a studded hilt, typical of a period earlier than the rest of the assemblage and suggesting the burial may have disturbed an earlier inhumation.

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.

This object was on loan to the University of Leicester (February 2023) for wear and compositional analyses. Non-destructive techniques using microscopes, X-Ray Fluorescence and a Scanning Electron Microscope. The project will improve our understanding about how the objects were made, used and deposited. This research, funded by the British Academy, was led by Dr Rachel Crellin, and supported by Dr Christina Tsoraki, Dr Oliver Harris and Dr Christopher Standish. 'From Prestige to Practice: Shedding New Light on Early Bronze Age Gold through Microwear and Scanning Electron Microscope Analysis'. Results are expected in 2024.