Description

Summary: 1 gold lozenge-shaped breast plate made of thin gold covering a wooden plaque and decorated with four nested lozenge-shaped bands of four engraved lines each, the central one of which contains a chequered design with a zigzag design between the outer two bands, perforated at both ends, found with a primary male inhumation (over chest) in Bowl Barrow Wilsford G5, excavated by William Cunnington

Research results

A Bronze Age gold lozenge-shaped plaque cover, excavated from Bush Barrow (Wilsford G5) by William Cunnington and Richard Colt Hoare in 1808. The larger and more elaborate of two similar lozenge-shaped plaque covers found with the primary burial, this example was found 'immediately on the breastbone' of the adult male. The cover was probably originally mounted onto a wooden plaque and held in place by its downturned sides; rough perforations in either accute angle may have helped pin the cover to the plaque, or perhaps more likely, they may have held decorative studs which have not survived. The finely engraved decoration on the face of the plaque cover is extremely regular, and would have required considerable skill and planning on the part of the craftsman.

Claude Maumené (2017) has recently suggested that the decoration of the Bush barrow lozenge is best understood in astrological terms: they suggest that the zig-zag border may represent a cycle of 36-days, and that if each groove of the concentric border represents a full cycle, it would equal a total of 576 days. If the 9 lozenges of the central grid are also counted, this adds up to a total of 585 days. This, they argue, corresponds closely with the cycle of the planet Venus at 583.9 days; the 9 squares in the centre representing the 8 or 9 days of every cycle during which Venus is obscured by the light of the Sun. Maumené makes a similar argument for the Clandon barrow Lozenge and the gold button from Upton Lovell G2e, whose decorations are suggested to relate to the cycles of the planet Venus, and Mars and Jupiter respectively.

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..