Bronze Age gold and its rarity and visual appeal made it a status symbol among the elites of Bronze Age societies. It was frequently used in burial rites and other ceremonies to denote the high social standing of individuals.
Gold artifacts found in graves suggest that they were believed to accompany the deceased into the afterlife, serving both as a symbol of their earthly status and as an offering to the gods.
In Britain and Ireland, the earliest use of gold dates back to around four and a half thousand years ago, during the Chalcolithic period, also known as the Copper Age.
The initial gold artifacts were modest—small sheets of gold crafted into basket-shaped hair ornaments and circular ‘sun discs’, dating from around 2450 BC. As time progressed into the Bronze Age (2450–800 BC), goldsmithing techniques became more sophisticated and diversified.
Artisans crafted larger and more intricate items, including lunulae, bracelets, and neckrings. Exceptional, unique items were also produced during this period, such as the famous gold cape discovered at Mold in North Wales.
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History
Gold working in the British Isles during the Bronze Age, spanning from around 2500 to 800 BCE in Britain and up to about 550 BCE in Ireland, involved the crafting of gold into ornaments and other prestigious items.
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During this period, communities in Britain and Ireland first mastered metalworking, leading to the production of items made not only from gold but also from copper and bronze.
Gold artifacts, in particular, were considered prestigious items, often used to signify the high status of individuals who either wore them or were interred with them.
Approximately 1,500 gold objects from the Bronze Age are known to exist in collections today, with around 1,000 of these found in Ireland and the remaining 500 in Britain.
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This figure represents only a small fraction of the gold objects that would have been crafted during that time, leading archaeologists to estimate that “many thousands of gold objects were made and used” throughout the Bronze Age in the British Isles.
Historical records suggest that Bronze Age gold artifacts were being discovered as early as the 18th century. However, many of these finds were either melted down or lost before their historical value could be appreciated.
Bronze Age Gold Mining
It was not until the rise of antiquarian interests and subsequent archaeological endeavors that the true age and significance of these items were recognized, leading to their preservation in collections.
Archaeologist George Eogan has noted that studying Bronze Age gold artifacts not only highlights the skill of craftsmen and technicians of the era but also enhances our understanding of broader societal aspects such as social hierarchy, trade, commerce, and ritual practices.
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New archaeological research is uncovering that southwest Britain experienced a prehistoric gold rush. Analysis of some of Western Europe’s most exquisite gold artifacts indicates that during the Early Bronze Age, Cornwall resembled a small-scale Klondike.
Geological assessments now suggest that up to 200 kilograms of gold, valued at nearly £5 million in today’s currency, were extracted from the rivers of Cornwall and West Devon, primarily between the 22nd and 17th centuries BC.
Further archaeological and metallurgical studies indicate that a significant portion of this gold was exported to Ireland, with lesser amounts possibly reaching France.
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It is also believed that the elites associated with Stonehenge, as well as the rulers in northwest Wales who wore capes of solid gold, sourced their gold from this region.
Bronze Age Cornwall
Dr. Chris Standish of Southampton University, who has conducted this metallurgical research, suggests that while the gold production in Cornwall held considerable cultural and perhaps political importance, it was largely a secondary output of a more significant industry—tin extraction.
“Evidence strongly indicates that in Bronze Age Cornwall and West Devon, tin was not mined but rather collected from the region’s rivers, likely through panning or elaborate damming and sluicing techniques,” Dr. Standish explains.
In the process of searching for tin in the sands and gravels of the rivers, these ancient prospectors also discovered gold. It’s likely that fine woolly sheepskins were used to capture the tiny grains of both tin and gold—a method that may have inspired the ancient Greek myth of the Golden Fleece.
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Cornish tin was pivotal to the development of the Bronze Age across Western Europe, Britain, and Ireland, as prehistoric metalworkers needed to alloy it with copper to produce bronze.
The local rivers played a crucial role, eroding both tin and gold from the granite and other hard rocks of the southwest peninsula, stretching from west to east across areas like Land’s End, Carnmenellis, St. Austell, Bodmin Moor, and Dartmoor.
Cornwall and West Devon
“During the Bronze Age, the gold deposits in the headwaters of many rivers in Cornwall and West Devon were significantly richer than they are today,” stated Simon Camm, a geologist and the foremost authority on Cornish gold, as well as the author of the only book on the topic, Gold in the Counties of Cornwall and Devon.
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“This would have undoubtedly drawn a large number of prospectors. On average, it’s likely that Bronze Age gold hunters could have extracted over 150 grams of gold annually, and potentially more than double that amount in particularly fruitful years,” he added.
Similar to much of the Cornish gold, it is highly probable that some of the tin was ‘exported’ to Ireland, where it was alloyed with Irish copper to create bronze.
Before Dr. Standish’s research, it was commonly believed by archaeologists that most of the Bronze Age gold artifacts found in Ireland and Britain were crafted from Irish rather than Southwest British gold.
270 Bronze Age Gold Artifacts
Despite estimates that suggest up to 200 kilograms of gold were extracted from the streams and rivers of the Southwest Peninsula during the Early Bronze Age, only about 270 gold artifacts from that era, weighing a total of approximately eight kilograms, have been discovered and documented in Britain and Ireland.
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Most of the major individual pieces that have survived to this day each weigh up to 50 grams, with one notably large piece weighing 560 grams, and are primarily held in museums in London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Truro (Cornwall), and Devizes (Wiltshire).
Unfortunately, it is likely that the vast majority of gold artifacts created during that period were melted down over the centuries to produce newer items. It is quite possible that some of this ancient Cornish gold is still in circulation today.
Many original gold artifacts may still be buried, having been placed as offerings to the gods by Bronze Age priests.
Meanwhile, countless others have probably been discovered by farmers and laborers throughout the years, only to be quietly melted down and, as a result, gone unrecorded in historical accounts.
Bronze Age Gold Work
Bronze Age goldwork is distinguished by its elegant simplicity and precise craftsmanship, often featuring relatively straightforward geometric patterns such as parallel lines, chevrons, zig-zags, and circles.
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These designs are usually executed on a small scale yet with exceptional precision, particularly in Ireland, as evidenced by the detailed enlargements of lunulae and Irish bracelets.
The artifacts predominantly consist of jewelry, including items such as clothes-fasteners (similar to large, one-piece cuff-links), torcs, bracelets, gold lunulae, and smaller adornments possibly used in the ear, nose, or hair, or as brooches on clothing.
Additionally, various thin discs or plaques were likely sewn onto garments or worn in the hair. Notably, the ends of objects that are essentially bars curved into a circular form often expand slightly before concluding in a flat or concave end, as seen in pieces like those found in the Milton Keynes Hoard.
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This thickening is generally modest in torcs and bracelets but more pronounced in clothes fasteners and ear decorations. Pairs of tightly wound spirals, which were also popular in Continental Europe, are a common feature in these designs.
Early Bronze Age Gold Artifacts
Eogan (1994) observed that approximately 250 gold objects from the Early Bronze Age have been identified, with 165 of these originating from Ireland and the remaining 83 from Britain.
Upon examining the design patterns of Britain’s earliest gold artifacts, Eogan pointed out that they “form a homogeneous group” which, along with other types of metal artifacts, suggests the introduction of new technology.
Gold artifacts from the Early Bronze Age are typically much smaller, often consisting of very thin decorated discs or plaques. Notably, two small gold cups, the Rillaton Cup and the similar but now compressed Ringlemere Cup, have been discovered in England.
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Ireland, rich in natural resources, boasted a prolific Early Bronze Age metal-working industry that produced substantial quantities of metal axes, halberds, and daggers.
This robust metalworking capability also supported a significant gold industry, which produced lunulae and gold discs on a much larger scale than seen in Britain.
Late Bronze Age Gold Treasures
The transition to the Late Bronze Age in the British Isles was marked by significant societal changes and an apparent increase in the availability of gold, which led to a shift towards much larger and more substantial pieces.
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Jewelry, particularly large items worn around the neck, became increasingly grand. The most extravagant of these were wide, flat collars or gorgets with ribbed decorations that followed the contours of the piece, often featuring round discs at the sides.
The Mold Cape, though unique among surviving artifacts, aligns with this trend towards sizable pieces that accentuate the neck and chest. Notably, it was not designed for extended wear, as it restricted the ability to raise the arms.
In Ireland, the use of lunulae as neck ornaments gradually gave way to gold torcs during the Middle Bronze Age, and later to elaborate “gorgets” in the Late Bronze Age.
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These gorgets were made of thin ribbed gold, sometimes adorned with round discs at the sides. Nine such examples survive today, with seven housed in the National Museum of Ireland.
Additionally, designs featuring twisted bars or ribbons that formed spirals grew in popularity, likely influenced by Continental styles.
Over 110 identifiable British and Irish ribbon torcs have been documented, yet their precise dating remains elusive. This suggests a long-standing preference for ribbon torcs that persisted for over 1,000 years, continuing well into the Iron Age.
Bronze Age society
In Bronze Age Britain, gold objects were seen as prestigious items, indicating that their owners or those buried with them held high status within society.
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Archaeologist George Eogan highlighted that gold symbolized “ostentation in society, a society that has divisions along rank.” Eogan also observed that very few Bronze Age gold artifacts had been found through “controlled archaeological investigations.”
Instead, the majority were discovered “by chance,” often during agricultural activities or peat-cutting. In the 21st century, metal detectorists have played a significant role in uncovering such artifacts, as demonstrated by the discovery of the notable Shropshire bulla in 2018.
Antiquarian Interest
The fascination with gold artifacts from prehistory in the British Isles began to emerge during the Early Modern period. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, southern England, acquired the Ballyshannon Disk in 1696, marking the first artifact of its kind in their collection, with many more additions in the following centuries.
Nearly a century later, in 1782, the British Museum in London acquired its first Bronze Age gold artifact, a disk from Kirk Andrews on the Isle of Man.
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In 1980, Joan J. Taylor published the first comprehensive study of Bronze Age goldwork in the British Isles, titled Bronze Age Goldwork of the British Isles. Later, in 1994, archaeologist George Eogan released an academic monograph on the subject called The Accomplished Art: Gold and Gold-Working in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze Age, published by U.K.-based Oxbow Books.
Eogan clarified that his work was “not a corpus or catalogue” of artifacts but rather “an evaluation and interpretation of the material in social terms,” providing insight into the societal implications of gold usage during the Bronze Age.
