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National Museums Scotland acquires unique Bronze Age hoard
A unique collection of more than 500 bronze objects dating to 1000–800 B.C. has been acquired by the National Museums Scotland after four years of conservation and investigation. The objects and materials in the hoard would be rare finds as individuals, but the agglomeration of such a diverse group of artifacts has no parallel on the archaeological record of Europe.
The first bronze pieces were discovered near the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders by metal detectorist Mariusz Stępień in 2020. Instead of digging everything up himself, he wisely reported the find immediately to Scotland’s Treasure Trove Unit and archaeologists from National Museums Scotland were dispatched to investigate. They soon realized this was a hoard of many objects, including organic elements, so decided to remove the entire hoard in a soil block for excavation in laboratory conditions.
Archaeologists CT scanned the recovered block so they could map out the excavation ahead of time and document the internal structure of the hoard in its original context. Archaeologists identified from the scans that some of the pieces, including the first pieces discovered by Stępień, were manufactured using the lost-wax casting technique, very seldom found in Britain which indicates they were made by highly skilled metalsmiths. These are some of the earliest examples of lost-wax cast objects in Scotland.
The meticulous laboratory excavation took five weeks and ultimately uncovered more than 500 components, some of which fit together with other objects in the hoard. Some were complete and intact, like a Late Bronze Age sword still in its wooden scabbard.
Other pieces are small, intricate and fragile and typically do not survive three thousand years in the ground. Many of the decorated bronze fittings are still attached to leather or wood. An array of bronze buttons remain looped onto 3,000-year-old cords and straps. Astonishingly, the Hoard also contains rare survivals of tiny bronze pins, studs and bosses embedded in wood or leather. There are remains of complex decorated straps, which are still mostly articulated. We do not yet know the purpose of these straps. This is a level of detail and insight which is not usually glimpsed for the Bronze Age.
Some larger objects in the hoard highlight Bronze Age Scotland’s position as part of a network of communities across the North Sea. There are two rattle pendants, which are the first ever found in Scotland. These are more commonly found in Denmark, northern Germany and northern Poland. Two others from Britain were found in a hoard from Parc y Meirch in north Wales. These remarkable objects consist of interlinked bronze rings and pendant plates. These would have hung from a horse or wooden vehicle and rattled as they moved.
Such a complex group of components was not randomly assembled. To the Bronze Age people who collected and buried the Peebles Hoard, they were interlinked, literally and metaphorically. Researchers will be studying the connections between these artifacts and how they fit into the cultural context of Bronze Age Scotland and its links to mainland Europe.
The conservation of the bronze objects and the extremely fragile organic elements will be complicated and expensive. National Museums Scotland will be launching a public campaign to raise funds for the conservation and study of the Peebles Hoard. For now, if you’d like to pitch in, you have to contact their Development team via email.
Watch Dr. Matthew Knight, Senior Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, explain the Peebles Hoard in this video. It gives you an idea of the scale of the objects and how complex the excavation was.
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