4 November 2024 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

High-status Macedonian tomb discovered in ancient Aegae, Central Macedonia

2 April 2024

2 April 2024

In the ancient city of Aegae (present-day Vergina) in Imathia, Central Macedonia, during the construction of the sewerage network, tomb...

Urartian graves in eastern Turkey pointing out novel burial traditions

21 September 2021

21 September 2021

The excavations in Cavuştepe castle continue with the excavations in the necropolis this year. Two new tombs from the Urartian...

Ruins of the 700-year-old wharf, possibly used by royalty, found in Oslo

6 March 2023

6 March 2023

An excavation by NIKU archaeologists in Oslo’s seaside neighborhood of Bjørvika has uncovered the remains of a long section of...

Tanzania’s mysterious footprints were made by early humans, not bears

6 December 2021

6 December 2021

The prehistoric footprints discovered by archaeologists caused confusion because scientists looked at them again to determine whether they were left...

Largest-Known Flower Preserved in Amber Is Nearly 40 Million Years Old

20 January 2023

20 January 2023

The largest-known fossilized flower encased in amber, dating back nearly 40 million years, was again discovered in the Baltic region...

New stone ram heads unearthed in Luxor, Egypt

15 October 2021

15 October 2021

Mustafa al-Waziri, the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), recently announced the discovery of new stone ram heads...

A 1,700-year-old trident discovered in Assos ancient city in Türkiye

10 October 2023

10 October 2023

An iron trident, believed to be used for fishing, dating to the 3rd or 4th century A.D. has been discovered...

The very unknown ancient city of the Mediterranean; Syedra

3 July 2022

3 July 2022

Known as Turkey’s holiday paradise, the Antalya region is a treasure when it comes to ancient cities. Close to the...

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK

8 July 2023

8 July 2023

Researchers in Kent in southeastern England have discovered a prehistoric handaxe so big it would have been almost impossible to...

A Mysterious Human Face Carved on Stone Dated to Bronze Age Discovered in Kazakhstan

21 July 2024

21 July 2024

Kazakhstan’s rich archaeological landscape continues to reveal fascinating details about ancient civilizations. Recent research in the Akmola, and Pavlodar revealed...

New evidence for early regional exchanges in Eurasia: Ice skates made of animal bones over 3,000 years old

9 March 2023

9 March 2023

Chinese archaeologists have discovered ancient ice skates made of animal bones at the Gaotai Ruins in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous...

Iron Age and Roman Skeletons Discovered on Alderney

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Well-preserved skeletons from the late Iron Age and Roman periods were found in Alderney, one of the channel islands. The...

Female pharaoh’s temple reveals teamwork of Egypt’s ‘ancient masters’

18 November 2021

18 November 2021

Despite the widely acknowledged monumentality and durability of ancient Egyptian sculpture, carved reliefs, and paintings the makers of these works...

Two monumental sculpted Roman heads unearthed in Carlisle, northern England

25 May 2023

25 May 2023

Two monumental statue heads believed to be dated to the early 3rd century have been unearthed during excavations at a...

A woman in the Czech Republic found a medieval jackpot during a walk

29 May 2024

29 May 2024

A woman walking in the town of Kutná Hora in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic found a...