British Bronze Age Gold Headband Fragment Strip

Code: 10418

This is a rare Bronze Age gold strip, dating to c. 2200 - 1200 B.C. The sheet is rectangular in plan, around 1.09mm in thickness and decorated with eleven grooves. The strip would have been much longer, with penannular terminals of a straight edge (similar to a fragment recorded LIN-946F12). It is possible these strips were originally worn as a bracelet, or more likely (in my opinion) as a headband. Only fragments of these objects are found, usually chopped up either as a ritual deposit or offering.

Similar multi-grooved strips of a Bronze Age date are known from throughout Britain including in the British Museum collection from Flixton, Yorkshire (2004,0904.1a-b, Treasure Annual Report 2003, 16. no. 2) and Ravencliff Cave, Derbyshire (British Museum 1906,1224.1-2) as well as recent finds such as Ansley, Warwickshire and West Acre Norfolk (Treasure Annual Report 2007, 47-48). A very similar strip from Sproxton, North Yorkshire is recorded on the PASdatabase as LVPL-83FE92. There is also a similar grooved strip from The Hamel, Oxford, Oxfordshire excavated from a layer which yielded Beaker pottery of the Early Bronze Age (Palmer 1980, 124-134). See also a similar undated but similarly decorated strip of sheet gold from Norfolk, recorded on the PAS database as NMS-BE02A4, another ESS-C13B97 and WILT-26F931.

References:
Palmer, N. 1980. A Beaker burial and Medieval Tenements in The Hamel, Oxford. Oxoniensia 45, 124-134
Treasure Annual Report 2003
Treasure Annual Report 2007

CULTURE: Early - Middle Bronze Age

DATE: c. 2200 - 1200 B.C.

MATERIAL: Gold

SIZE: 46mm x 10mm

WEIGHT:   2.2g

PROVENANCE: Ex. Private Collection, North Yorkshire, acquired from a Victorian Collectors Cabinet of Curiosities.