Description

Summary: 1 small barrel-shaped bead (of brown pottery?) engraved with lines around its waist, top and base, found with a primary cremation in confluent Bowl Barrow Wilsford G46, excavated by William Cunnington.

Research results

A Bronze Age slate or shale bead, found with a primary cremation in the south east mound of confluent bowl barrow Wilsford G46, excavated by William Cunnington. This group comprises of two stone beads and a faience bead, although originally three further faience beads, two amber beads and an awl were also found (now lost). The source of the stone used for this bead is uncertain.

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, allowing for a reevaluation of their chronology and production. They suggest that grooved biconical beads such as this may in fact have been influenced by segmented faience beads in their design.

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.