Early Bronze Age lead — a unique necklace from southeast Scotland

Hunter, Fraser; Davis, M. Edward

doi:10.1017/s0003598x00047529

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Lead in Bronze Age artefacts confirms that it was being used in Britain prior to 1500 bc and hints at the probable early exploitation of insular sources and trade in metal ore (Rohl and Needham, 1998). A smelted lead bead necklace in an Early Bronze Age grave was found in southeast Scotland (Hunter and Davis, 1994), and other early lead finds have been reported from Cornwall (Shell, 1979) and Co. Tipperary (Rafferty, 1961). Lead was also intentionally being alloyed with copper and tin to produce bronze by the Middle–Late Bronze Age (Rohl and Needham, 1998; Tylecote, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK

et al. 2014

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This study presents a new 3600-year record of past metal contamination from a bog located close to the Leadhills and Wanlockhead orefield of south west Scotland. A peat core, collected from Toddle Moss, was radiocarbon (14 C) dated and analysed for 2 trace metal concentrations (by EMMA) and lead isotopes (by ICP-MS) to reconstruct the atmospheric deposition history of trace metal contamination, in particular lead. The results show good agreement with documented historical and archaeological records of mining and metallurgy in the region: the peak in metal mining during the eighteenth century, the decline of lead mining during the Anglo-Scottish war and lead smelting during the early medieval period. There may also have been earlier workings during the late Bronze and Iron Ages indicated by slight increases in lead concentrations, the Pb/Ti ratio and a shift in 206/207 Pb ratios, which compare favourably to the signatures of a galena ore from Leadhills and Wanlockhead. In contrast to other records across Europe, no sizeable lead enrichment was recorded during the Roman Iron Age, suggesting that the orefield was not a significant part of the Roman lead extraction industry in Britain. These findings add to the various strands of archaeological evidence that hint at an early lead extraction and metallurgical industry based in southern Scotland. The results also provide further evidence for specific regional variations in the evolution of mining and metallurgy and an associated contamination signal during prehistoric and Roman times across Europe.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK

et al. 2014

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“…Timberlake, 2003a;O'Brien, 2004), the evidence for the use of lead in Britain before Roman times is less common but occasionally found in the archaeological record (e.g. Needham and Hook, 1988;Barnatt, 1999;Hunter and Davis, 1994). Evidence for early lead mining has proved to be more elusive (Bayley et al, 2008).…”

Section: Prehistorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ancient copper and lead pollution records from a raised bog complex in Central Wales, UK

Mighall

Timberlake

Foster

et al. 2009

Journal of Archaeological Science

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“…Essentially, where pottery has been present, it has been either late Beaker (as at Stoneykirk, Dumfries & Galloway : Mann 1902) or Food Vessel. One remarkable example of a disc-bead necklace, with a second strand made of metallic lead beads, was found associated with an infant aged 3-5 at West Water Reservoir, Scottish Borders (Figure 32; Hunter & Davis 1994). These size-graded disc-bead necklaces appear to represent a development from the Chalcolithic necklaces comprising tiny disc beads of uniform (or nearly so) size -although the use of tiny disc beads certainly continued into the Early Bronze Age, as discussed below.…”

Section: Early Bronze Age Use Of Jet and Jetlike Materials 22 Nd Century -C 1750 Bcmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Position in graves: wherever new finds of jet/jet-like jewellery are encountered, very great care needs to be employed in recording their exact position, especially in the case of spacer plate necklaces. The benefits of blocklifting and laboratory excavation have been demonstrated in the case of the West Water reservoir find (Hunter & Davis 1994), where it is debatable as to whether the tiny lead beads would have been recognised in the field.…”

Section: Outstanding Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Scotland: ScARF Panel Report

2012

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The main recommendations of the panel report can be summarised under five key headings:  Building the Scottish Bronze Age: Narratives should be developed to account for the regional and chronological trends and diversity within Scotland at this time. A chronology Bronze Age Scotland: ScARF Panel Report iv based upon Scottish as well as external evidence, combining absolute dating (and the statistical modelling thereof) with re-examined typologies based on a variety of sources – material cultural, funerary, settlement, and environmental evidence – is required to construct a robust and up to date framework for advancing research.  Bronze Age people: How society was structured and demographic questions need to be imaginatively addressed including the degree of mobility (both short and long-distance communication), hierarchy, and the nature of the ‘family’ and the ‘individual’. A range of data and methodologies need to be employed in answering these questions, including harnessing experimental archaeology systematically to inform archaeologists of the practicalities of daily life, work and craft practices.  Environmental evidence and climate impact: The opportunity to study the effects of climatic and environmental change on past society is an important feature of this period, as both palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data can be of suitable chronological and spatial resolution to be compared. Palaeoenvironmental work should be more effectively integrated within Bronze Age research, and inter-disciplinary approaches promoted at all stages of research and project design. This should be a two-way process, with environmental science contributing to interpretation of prehistoric societies, and in turn, the value of archaeological data to broader palaeoenvironmental debates emphasised. Through effective collaboration questions such as the nature of settlement and land-use and how people coped with environmental and climate change can be addressed.  Artefacts in Context: The Scottish Chalcolithic and Bronze Age provide good evidence for resource exploitation and the use, manufacture and development of technology, with particularly rich evidence for manufacture. Research into these topics requires the application of innovative approaches in combination. This could include biographical approaches to artefacts or places, ethnographic perspectives, and scientific analysis of artefact composition. In order to achieve this there is a need for data collation, robust and sustainable databases and a review of the categories of data.  Wider Worlds: Research into the Scottish Bronze Age has a considerable amount to offer other European pasts, with a rich archaeological data set that includes intact settlement deposits, burials and metalwork of every stage of development that has been the subject of a long history of study. Research should operate over different scales of analysis, tracing connections and developments from the local and regional, to the international context. In this way, Scottish Bronze Age studies can contribute to broader questions relating both to the Bronze Age and to human society in general.

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Early Bronze Age lead — a unique necklace from southeast Scotland

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK

Identifying evidence for past mining and metallurgy from a record of metal contamination preserved in an ombrotrophic mire near Leadhills, SW Scotland, UK

Ancient copper and lead pollution records from a raised bog complex in Central Wales, UK

Chalcolithic and Bronze Age Scotland: ScARF Panel Report

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