18 July 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

An 11,000-Year-Old Settlement Redefines Early Indigenous Civilizations in North America

11 February 2025

11 February 2025

A groundbreaking archaeological discovery near Sturgeon Lake First Nation is rewriting the narrative of early Indigenous civilizations in North America,...

Rescue work begins on a 160-year-old shipwreck, the largest and best-preserved wooden shipwreck ever discovered underwater in China

3 March 2022

3 March 2022

Rescue work has begun on a 160-year-old shipwreck in China, the largest and best-preserved wooden wreck ever discovered underwater. This...

‘Theodoric the Great’ villa mosaic found near Verona in Italy

17 April 2022

17 April 2022

A section of the ancient Roman mosaic flooring from the 5th century AD villa of Ostrogoth king Theodoric the Great...

Ice Age Cave Entrance that Nobody has Entered for 16,000 Years found in Germany

4 August 2023

4 August 2023

Researchers report they have discovered the official entrance to an Ice Age cave near Engen, Germany, that nobody has entered...

What If Ancient Statues Smelled Wonderful? The Surprising Secrets of Greco-Roman Sculptures

16 March 2025

16 March 2025

A new study published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology has shed light on an often-overlooked aspect of ancient Greek...

Mystery of the 1,700-year-old Mosaic Solved: The Medallion in the Mosaic uncovered to be the Symbol of a Roman Military Unit

10 August 2024

10 August 2024

The mystery of the 1,700-year-old mosaic, which was found during excavations in Amasya province in northern Turkey 11 years ago...

Roman mosaic found under the pavement in the narrow streets of Hvar

13 February 2022

13 February 2022

In the Old Town on the Adriatic island of Hvar, Croatia, a Roman mosaic was unearthed beneath a narrow street....

Pharaonic Hieroglyphic Inscription of Ramses III Found in Southern Jordan

20 April 2025

20 April 2025

In a remarkable archaeological breakthrough, a hieroglyphic inscription bearing the royal cartouche of Pharaoh Ramses III (1186–1155 BC) has been...

The oldest evidence of human use of tobacco was discovered in Utah

11 October 2021

11 October 2021

According to recent research, burnt seeds discovered in the Utah desert suggest that humans used tobacco initially and that some...

Sacred Hill of Moon God Sin “Sogmatar”

23 June 2022

23 June 2022

Sogmatar, Şanlıurfa is 53 kilometers from Harran. It is located in Yağmurlu village, where there are important springs in the...

Fossil of a hominid child who died almost 250,000 years ago discovered in South Africa

8 November 2021

8 November 2021

A team of international and South African researchers uncovered the fossil remains of an early hominid kid who died almost...

1300-year-old baby footprints found in excavations at the ancient city of Assos in western Turkey

3 September 2021

3 September 2021

1300 years ago, a baby stepped on baked bricks prepared to make a bread baking oven. The baby was probably...

Neolithic Age Adults and Children Buried Under Family Homes were not Relative

3 May 2021

3 May 2021

An international team of scientists found that Children and adults buried next to each other in one of the oldest...

An 8500-year-old wooden ladder remain was discovered at Çatalhöyük

12 April 2022

12 April 2022

Remains of the wooden ladder were discovered for the first time in Çatalhöyük, one of the best-preserved Neolithic settlements in...

Ancient Hebrew “Incantation Bowls” discovered in a home in Israel

8 March 2022

8 March 2022

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said Monday that 1,500-year-old magical “incantation bowls” and other rare and ornate bone and ivory...