8 August 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

New Study Finds, 4,000-Year-Old Toolkit Unearthed Near Stonehenge Was Used to Work Gold

Archaeologists from the Universities of Leicester and Southampton in the United Kingdom recently published a study claiming that enigmatic artifacts recovered from a significant Bronze Age burial mound near Stonehenge are actually the remains of a 4,000-year-old toolkit used for working with gold.

These stone and copper alloy tools were part of a large cache of grave goods found with two buried bodies, but their true function had not been known. Despite the fact that this 4.000-year-old toolkit was first discovered more than 200 years ago at an excavation site close to the Wiltshire County village of Upton Lovell, it was only recently that it was rediscovered.

Microscopic reanalysis of axes and shaped cobbles discovered in the grave revealed tiny traces of gold and wear marks, indicating that they were used to hammer and smooth sheets of gold by a skilled craftsperson.

Dr. Christina Tsoraki, from the University of Leicester, carried out a wear analysis on the items when she noticed what appeared to be gold residues on the surface of several artifacts.

This led to a collaboration with Dr. Chris Standish, from the University of Southampton, an expert in Early Bronze Age gold working who applied a scan using an Electron Microscope coupled to an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer to determine whether the residues were ancient or modern.

Archaeologists from the University of Leicester detected traces of gold on their surface, indicating they were once used as hammers or anvils for metalworking. Pictured: Gold traces on stone used for polishing and smoothing

Thanks to new technologies unavailable even a few decades ago, said Oliver Harris, an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Leicester 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”.

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 Oliver Harris.

Researchers have discovered that the toolkit was used to make objects in which a core material—like jet, shale, amber, wood, or copper—was covered and decorated with a layer of gold sheet.

Making rib-and-furrow decorations, making perforations, fitting the core object with sheet gold, and smoothing and polishing the finished objects were all part of the process. Some of the tools were already ancient, making them thousands of years old by the time they were reused. There was even a complete battle axe, which was repurposed for metalworking.

“Such battle axes were far from the only smooth stones that could have been selected for these purposes,” the paper explains. “In intentionally repurposing these objects, their histories rubbed off on the materials they worked.”

Their findings, published in the journal Antiquity, confirmed that the stone tools were used for a variety of purposes – some as hammers and anvils, while others were used to smooth other materials. They also discovered gold residues on five artifacts, which have an elemental signature similar to Bronze Age goldwork found throughout the UK.

https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.162

Cover Photo: Antiquity

Related Articles

A Detectorist has Discovered a Completely Unique Medieval Seal Matrix in the UK

2 December 2023

2 December 2023

A medieval seal die, described by experts as ‘completely unique’, has been found by a metal detector at a field...

Anatolia’s first company was founded 4000 years ago with 15 kilos of gold!

26 May 2024

26 May 2024

A 4,000-year-old tablet found in Kültepe shows that the first company in Anatolia was established by 12 people with 15...

Hannibal’s Italian Ally: 170 Meters of Fortifications and 450 Roman Lead Projectiles Discovered

20 June 2025

20 June 2025

Archaeologists in Ugento, a city in southern Italy that once sided with Hannibal during the Second Punic War, have uncovered...

A Polish-Croatian team discovered Ancient Roman Temple under a Croatian 18th Century church

24 November 2022

24 November 2022

Under an 18th-century church, the Church of St. Daniel in Danilo near Sibenik, Croatia, the foundations of an ancient Roman...

Archaeologists find an Anglo-Saxon church at Stoke Mandeville excavation site

13 September 2021

13 September 2021

Archaeologists working on the HS2 project found the remains of an Anglo-Saxon church during their excavations at the former St...

13.000 Ostraca Discovered in Upper Egypt

20 December 2021

20 December 2021

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism announced that a German-Egyptian mission at the Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel...

A Rare Roman-Era Bronze Filter Discovered in Hadrianopolis, Türkiye

11 February 2025

11 February 2025

Archaeologists excavating at Hadrianopolis in Karabük, Türkiye, have unearthed a 5th-century AD bronze filter used in Roman and Byzantine times...

Southwest Germany’s Oldest Gold Artifact Found

28 May 2021

28 May 2021

Archaeologists discovered the 3,800-year-old burial of a woman who died when she was around 20 years old in what is...

Archaeologists unearth 3,500-Year-Old Gold Jewelry in Egypt

14 December 2022

14 December 2022

Archaeologists discovered a collection of ornate jewelry at the Tell El-Amarna necropolis on the Nile River’s eastern bank in modern-day...

Historical Armenian church 500-year-old in southeastern Turkey set to be restored

6 February 2022

6 February 2022

Work has been initiated to transfer the historical Armenian Church, which was built in the 16th century in the province...

Rare Viking Armlet and 2,000-Year-Old Golden Neck Ring Discovered in Sweden

20 March 2025

20 March 2025

Recently, two extraordinary archaeological finds have captivated the attention of historians and enthusiasts alike in Sweden. The first discovery, an...

Paleontologists say world’s oldest-known burial site found in South Africa

6 June 2023

6 June 2023

American explorer and scientist Lee Berger in South Africa said they have found the oldest-known burial site in the world,...

Ancient Bone Flute Discovered in Iran Offers Rare Glimpse into 8,000-Year-Old Musical Traditions

29 June 2025

29 June 2025

The National Museum of Iran has launched an exciting initiative in collaboration with the Public Relations Department of the Ministry...

Sensational Discovery in Kazakhstan: Rare Turko-Sughd Early Medieval Coin Discovered in Almaty Region

24 June 2024

24 June 2024

A sensational discovery was made in the Kogaly Valley, two hours from Almaty, Kazakhstan. For the first time in Kazakhstan,...

2,000-year-old stone faces and engravings emerge amid severe drought in Amazon

24 October 2023

24 October 2023

As a result of record-low water levels brought on by the region’s worst drought in over a century, faces carved...