Object: Ribbon (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-2100 to -1150)
Material: Gold 
Found: Askern, Doncaster, Doncaster (Yorkshire and the Humber)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 76.5 mm
Thickness: 1.3 mm
Weight: 5 g
Description: A fragment of an incomplete gold band or ribbon of rectangular shape, now in two pieces, of Bronze Age date (2100 BC - 1150 BC).



Description: The parallel sided strip of gold has twelve (possibly thirteen) embossed longitudinal lines visible on both faces, giving a corrugated effect. Both ends appear to be breaks, and the strip has broken into two pieces post-recovery. Both long edges are folded making a thicker edge. About 2.6mm - 2.8mm of the sheet is folded over on each edge. This flange is damaged and partially missing on one long edge, and partially unfolded. There is some modern damage on the outer face of the larger piece, in the form of transverse scratches across the face. The whole object is bent and creased and was probably more crumpled when first found, the modern break appearing to be along a previous fold. 



The finder took the object to be tested by a jeweller who reports that it is 20ct and 5g. Short piece: 29.9mm long, 14.2mm wide, 1.3mm thick as folded. The sheet is 0.3mm thick. Larger piece: 47.6mm long, 14.7mm wide, 0.6mm thick as folded. The sheet is 0.4mm thick. 



Discussion: Several ribbons of Bronze Age date have been previously reported as Treasure. Many of these have incised decoration on one face only, rather than the ribbed and corrugated effect seen on this piece. An example is WAW-C0C0B3 (2007 T672) which is published as number 38 on page 47 and 303 of the 2007 Treasure Annual Report.



Examples with embossed linear decoration include WMID-3CBCF0 (2013 T471) for which the record by Teresa Gilmore and Neil Wilkin notes that "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) [this is mentioned above and is only decorated on one side]. A very similar strip from Sproxton, North Yorkshire is recorded on the PAS database as LVPL-83FE92 [2010 T664]. 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). Similar narrow embossed strips are known from the pommels of daggers accompanying Early Bronze Age burials in Scotland (Henshall 1968, 173-95; Hardaker 1974, 21-23. fig 6.; Taylor 1980, fig 28a-f) but not however comparable to gold dagger fittings in contemporary burials southern England.". Another similar examples is WMID-FE3C28 (2016 T1039).



The embossed rather than incised decoration makes an early Bronze Age date seem more likely, but a date in the middle to late Bronze Age cannot be entirely discounted.
Notes: This object is made of precious metal and is more than 300 years old, so it appears to meet the requirements of the 1996 Treasure Act.
Subsequent action: Submitted for consideration as Treasure