A collection of polished “lumps of stone” found in a burial mound near Stonehenge more than two centuries ago are a 4,000-year-old goldsmith’s toolkit, archaeologists have said.
Microscopic reanalysis of axes and shaped cobbles found in the grave has revealed tiny traces of gold and wear marks, showing they were used by a skilled craftsperson to hammer and smooth sheets of gold.
The bronze age burial mound was excavated in 1802 near Upton Lovell in Wiltshire and attracted attention for its large deposit of pierced animal bones, which were interpreted as the spectacular costume of what was assumed to be a shaman.
But the other grave goods, which also included flint cups, two broken battle axes and a copper alloy awl, “hadn’t had that much attention from archaeologists, comparatively”, said Oliver Harris, an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Leicester.
Thanks to new technologies unavailable even a few decades ago, he said, “it means that a lot of these objects have got new stories to tell us that we haven’t previously known how to look for”.
Microscopic analysis discovered gold traces on five of the stone tools, which was found to have a similar composition to known bronze age gold. Examination of tiny rubs and scratches revealed how they had been used to flatten and polish the precious metal.
The goldsmith, the archaeologists believe, may have used the tools to make treasured artefacts in which items of jet, amber or wood were covered with thin sheets of gold – examples of which are known from the period.
The flint cups, they suggest, may have been used to mix resins and adhesives, while the awl could have created perforations and patterns.
The grave goods are thought to date from 1850-1700BC, and are associated with the Wessex culture, which flourished in the aftermath of nearby Stonehenge, according to Harris.
While no bone fragments were recorded, the goldworker “is definitely special”, he said. “The way they dress, they have materials that are thousands of years old – they’re going to be someone who stands out. This is a person who dresses very differently to some of their compatriots, and can do amazing things. They’re definitely different and special.”
Intriguingly, the grave goods included four Neolithic axes, meaning they were already several thousand years old when buried with the goldworker – and analysis showed that one of them had been used to prepare bronze age gold.
“I would love to know whether they are heirlooms that have been handed down through generations, or whether they were deposited in rivers and were found alongside the cobbles that have been turned into these stone tools – or maybe alongside the gold itself,” said Harris.
“Because those objects have an amazing story. I’d love to know all the things that they’ve seen, and the story of how something came to be so treasured, yet used in a radically different way to what they were intended for 2000 years earlier.”
The findings are published in the journal Antiquity.
The lead author, Rachel Crellin, an associate professor of archaeology at Leicester University, described the findings as “really exciting”. “At the recent World of Stonehenge exhibition at the British Museum, we know that the public was blown away by the amazing 4,000-year-old goldwork on display. What our work has revealed is the humble stone toolkit that was used to make gold objects thousands of years ago.”
