Featured: Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

Friendly specialist tours to ancient, mystical and historical sites in the UK and beyond

Random Image


Torastay

Singing Up the Country: The Songlines of Avebury and Beyond

Singing Up the Country: The Songlines of Avebury and Beyond

Who's Online

There are currently, 530 guests and 6 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< News >> Dig unearths Bronze Age sun disc

Submitted by TimPrevett on Wednesday, 17 December 2003  Page Views: 3139

Neolithic and Bronze AgeAn ancient gold disc which was used as an item of adornment at a burial 4,000 years ago has been discovered in Ceredigion. Experts say the priceless sun disc is the first one of its kind to be found in Wales and only the third known piece of gold from the Bronze Age uncovered here.

The disc found by chance by an archaeologist digging at Copa Hill at the Cwmystwyth Mines - 10 miles outside Aberystwyth - was the subject of a treasure trove inquest heard by Ceredigion coroner on Tuesday.

The find - roughly the size of a milk bottle top - is said to be as significant as the famous Mold cape - thought to have been worn as a garment for religious ceremonies by a great authority - the Bronze Age disc now housed at the British Museum.

Similar items have been found in Ireland and Europe, but never before in Wales.

If it is declared treasure trove, the National Museum of Wales will try to buy the sun disc for its collection, once its true value has been independently assessed.

Adam Gwilt, the museum's curator, said: "Gold sun-discs are one of the very earliest kinds of metal objects ever to have been made and used in Britain
and Ireland."

"The first of its kind from Wales, this fragile sheet disc seems to have been used as an item of adornment on a few special occasions, here upon the death of an individual."

"It is tempting to see this person as connected in some way with the very early mining on Copa Hill over 4,000 years ago, perhaps one of a group of
travelling prospectors or a person of some standing who lived nearby," said Mr Gwilt.

The sun disc was found by Simon Timberlake, a freelance archaeologist, when he was digging on the site of a Roman and medieval lead smelter in October 2002.

"We were very surprised to find this disc here with an early burial," said Mr Timberlake, a member of the Early Mines Research Group.

"This discovery was made quite by chance while we were investigating a Roman and medieval lead smelting site about 500 metre away from the early mine (at Copa Hill)."

A picture of the disc can be seen on the BBC Wales website.

For details of other Bronze Age mines see sections on The Great Orme and Alderley Edge.

Source: BBC On-line 25/11/2003

Note: Update - sun disk is declared treasure trove - see comment below.

<< Iron Age coin hoard found

Ivory bird displays ancient skill >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Places of Power, Paul Devereux

Places of Power, Paul Devereux

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Dig unearths Bronze Age sun disc" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Dig unearths Bronze Age sun disc by Anonymous on Sunday, 09 November 2008
As I understand it four such discs have been discovered in the U.K:

Cwmystwyth (discovered by SImon Timberlake)
Lansdown barrows (discovered by Bath Nat.Hist. and Antiq. Field Club (1906).
Whitesheet hill fort (discovered by Colt Hoare)
Jug's Grave (discovered by Guy Underwood)

[ Reply to This ]

Re: Dig unearths Bronze Age sun disc by Vicky on Wednesday, 17 December 2003
(User Info | Send a Message)
According to an article by the BBC today the Bronze Age gold disc has been declared treasure trove by a coroner at Aberystwyth.

The National Museum of Wales will try to buy the sun disc for its collection, once its true value has been independently assessed.

Adam Gwilt, the museum's curator, said: "Gold sun-discs are one of the very earliest kinds of metal objects ever to have been made and used in Britain and Ireland."

[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.