Jewellery from Bronze Age graves is normally interpreted as a symbol of status. Howevr, materials like jet, amber, faience and tin were also worn as talismans, writes Alison Sheridan. When archaeologists found the 4,300-year-old burial of an archer and metalworker at Amesbury in Wiltshire last year, they knew at once that they were looking at the remains of a great Bronze Age chieftain. The astonishing wealth of the possessions found in his grave declared him a man of power. This was, quite simply, the richest early Bronze Age grave ever found in Britain, with some of the country's earliest known items of gold. Included among the man's 100-odd possessions were a pair of gold hair ornaments, three copper knives, a shale belt-ring, archery equipment and arrowheads. No wonder he was described in the media as the 'King of Stonehenge'.In some ways, however, this spectacular discovery - and its interpretation - were not unique. We have, in fact, become used to thinking of prehistoric jewellery and accessories in terms of what they tell us about status. The wealthier the grave, and the more exotic, rare and well-crafted the possessions, the more powerful the individual is said to have been. It has become almost a commonplace of archaeological thinking. Yet there is far more to fine possessions than their role as symbols of power.
View: Full Article | Source: British Archaeology Magazine
