page_title: Normanton Down Barrows
section_title: Bush Barrow
hierarchical_section_title: Normanton Down Barrows / Bush Barrow
caption_attribution_description: English: Gold lozenge. One of the grave goods from Wilsford G5, Bush Barrow. Regarded as one of the finest examples of Bronze-Age gold-working found in Britain. It is made from a sheet of gold and would have been wrapped around a thin piece of wood.
context_page_description: Normanton Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age barrow cemetery located about 0.6 miles south of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The burials date from between 2600 and 1600 BC and consist of a Neolithic long barrow and some 40 or more Bronze Age round barrows, sited along the crest of a low ridge.
context_section_description: The most famous burial mound at Normanton Down is called Bush Barrow and is 40m wide and 3m high.  The name "Bush Barrow" was given to this archaeological site in the 1720s by William Stukeley because of the trees planted on the top.  It was previously known as "the green barrow" for the same reason.  It was excavated in 1808 by William Cunnington and Sir Richard Colt-Hoare, who found multiple artefacts inside the mound.
  Cunnington wrote a detailed account of the discovery of a body and artefacts surrounding it in the barrow.  He described that the head of the grave was at the south and the body was positioned on the floor rather than in a pit, which was considered unusual.  In the account, Cunnington described pieces of brass and wood that are now believed to be the remains of a rare type of dagger or knife.  One of the most prominent artefacts found at Bush Barrow was a "lozenge" –shaped piece of gold.  These items along with a spearhead and set of bronze rivets suggest that the individual buried at Bush Barrow may have been a wealthy, influential man, perhaps a chief. The finds have been called "Britain's first Crown Jewels" belonging to the "king of Stonehenge". Modern reconstructions have led to the conclusion that the artefacts were arranged closely around the body.
  Below is an extract from Cunnington's account:
  " On reaching the floor of the barrow, we discovered the skeleton of a stout and tall man lying from south to north: the extreme length of his thigh bone was 20 inches.  About 18 inches south of the head we found several brass (i.  e.  bronze) rivets intermixed with wood and some thin bits of brass nearly decomposed.  These articles covered a space of 12 inches or more; it is probable therefore that they were the mouldered remains of a shield.  Near the right arm was a large dagger of brass and a spearhead of the same material, full 13 inches long, and the largest we have ever found.  
  Immediately over the breast of the skeleton was a large plate of gold, in the form of a lozenge and measuring 7 inches by 6 inches.  The even surface of this noble ornament is relieved by indented lines, checks and zigzags, forming the shape of the outline, and forming lozenge within lozenge, diminishing gradually towards the centre.  We next discovered, on the right side of the skeleton, a very curious perforated stone, some wrought articles of bone, many small rings of the same material and another lozenge of gold.  As this stone bears no marks of wear or attrition, I can hardly consider it to have been used as a domestic implement, and from the circumstances of it being composed of a mass of seaworms or little serpents, I think we may not be too fanciful in considering it an article of consequence." 
  The finds from Bush Barrow are now displayed at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes, which preserves the manuscript notes made by Cunnington and the drawings made by Philip Crocker.
caption: Gold lozenge from Bush Barrow
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