Object: Bracelet (Bronze Age)
Period: Bronze Age to BRONZE AGE (-1300 to -1150)
Material: Gold 
Found: Seagry, Wiltshire, Wiltshire (South West)
Discovery method: Metal detector
Length: 40 mm
Thickness: 3.1 mm
Weight: 10.2 g
Description: CORONER'S REPORT



Description of object



1. Twisted gold penannular gold bracelet fragment. The bracelet is made on a rectangular-sectioned (4.1mm x 3.1mm) bar and has a plain unexpanded terminal. The edges and corners of the terminal are sub-rounded. The bracelet is twisted, giving the body of the bracelet a (concave-sided) lozenge-shaped profile. The bracelet has a comparatively loose twist (of 180 degrees on the fragment) and approximately one-third of the original length is represented. The break would appear to have been cut through a little over half the thickness and bent or twisted through the remainder. The curvature on the bracelet fragment is likely to be similar to the original.



Length - 40.0mm (Approximate straightened length - 58mm); Width- 4mm;Thickness - 3.1mm; Wt. 10.2g



Discussion



The penannular bracelet is of bar-twisted type characteristic dating to c. 1300-1100 BC known in Ireland and Britain. Eogan (1994, p50) classifies the form of bar bracelet as type iii. The bracelet fragment can be closely paralleled with two complete examples found at Saintjohns, Co. Kildare (Eogan, 1994, p 63, fig 27B 2-3, plate XII, Taylor 1980 ref. CoKd 9-10). Twisted gold bracelets and torcs have been found in fields in Wiltshire and throughout southwest England though they have tended to be deposited with accompanying gold objects (Roberts 2007).



Analysis to ascertain the elemental composition of the artefact was carried out using a CamScan MaXim 2040 analytical scanning electron microscope (SEM), plus an Oxford Instruments Link Isis energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX). The object was examined whole within the specimen chamber. The percentages presented are semi-quantitative only. Analysis suggests that the metal is composed of c. 86% gold and 12% silver. The composition is broadly consistent with Middle Bronze Age gold-working.
Notes: Previous Entry



Twisted gold penannular gold bracelet fragment. The bracelet is made on a rectangular-sectioned (4.1mm x 3.1mm) bar and has a plain unexpanded terminal. The edges and corners of the terminal are sub-rounded. The bracelet is twisted, giving the body of the bracelet a (concave-sided) lozenge-shaped profile. The bracelet has a comparatively loose twist (of 180 degrees on the fragment) and approximately one-third of the original length is represented. The break would appear to have been cut through a little over half the thickness and bent or twisted through the remainder. The curvature on the bracelet fragment is likely to be similar to the original.



The penannular bracelet is of bar-twisted type characteristic dating to c. 1300-1100 BC known in Ireland and Britain. Eogan (1994, p50) classifies the form of bar bracelet as type iii. The bracelet fragment can be closely paralleled with two complete examples found at Saintjohns, Co. Kildare (Eogan, 1994, p 63, fig 27B 2-3, plate XII, Taylor 1980 ref. CoKd 9-10). Twisted gold bracelets and torcs have been found in fields in Wiltshire and throughout southwest England though they have tended to be deposited with accompanying gold objects (Roberts 2007).