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Issue Date: 1 November 2003
Ref: MKM03/02
The latest display at Milton Keynes Museum features replicas of bronze age
torcs (neck rings) and other major archaeological finds made during recent local
excavations.
This display is the first at the Museum to include exhibits that help portray
the ancient history of the area.
The torcs date from c1150-800 BC and were found in a hoard that consisted of pottery vessel containing five gold ornaments and a fragment of
bronze. The vessel diameter was 210mm with the largest neck ring diameter 146 mm, largest bracelet diameter 85
mm. The total weight of the hoard was 2025g. The hoard was discovered in a field
scheduled for development on the outskirts of Milton Keynes in September 2000 by
metal-detectorists Michael Rutland and Gordon Heritage. They were declared as treasure in March 2001 under the Treasure Act 1997. The
originals were acquired for £290,000 from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport by the Trustees of The British Museum with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the National Arts Council Fund and British Museum Friends.
The items were exhibited at the British Museum, London, Prehistory: Objects of Power,
from March 2002 to the present.
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WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
The Milton Keynes find is of great value for Bronze Age archaeology. It is the first secure association between a gold hoard and a pottery vessel for the British Middle to Late Bronze Age. A few Early Bronze Age graves contain both pottery and gold items, but these belong to a wholly different cultural tradition. This find has enormous potential for making correlations between everyday material goods and prestige gold
ornaments that normally occur in isolation.
The pot was extremely fragile in the wet ground, having the consistency of soggy biscuit, and had to be lifted in a block of soil by British Museum conservators. Recognition of the find’s importance led to further excavation and monitoring in the vicinity and, while little evidence for contemporary activity was revealed, it was useful in giving support to the idea that hoards were often deposited at some distance from settlements.
All the ornament types in the hoard are rare and consequently their original distributions and the chronology of their development are poorly understood. Prior to the Milton Keynes discovery, only four examples of the massive-bar
neck rings were known from Britain (from three locations) with a further fragment from Northern Ireland. Another has since been found in Oxfordshire. There are also important finds of
neck rings in related styles from Brittany, elsewhere in northern and western France, and beyond to Iberia and Nordic Europe.
The hoard weighs in at over 2 kilograms, possibly the heaviest yet from Bronze Age Britain. These extravagant ornaments were not just to be gazed upon, as there is evidence for considerable wear of the decoration on the
neck rings. However, the objects do not show the tell-tale stress fractures that would stem from repeated opening and closing. Once fitted with a
neck ring, was the wearer saddled with this weighty emblem of office for every breathing moment of his or her life?
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MILTON KEYNES MUSEUM
Milton Keynes Museum preserves the history of Britain's newest city. The
Museum is located at an authentic Victorian farm, built in the late 1840s on
the outskirts of Wolverton, one of the UK's original "railway
towns", and now part of Milton Keynes. Its large and constantly
changing selection of displays have something for all the family.
Collections include social, domestic, industrial and agricultural items
with a connection to the area. The displays follow the history of the Milton
Keynes area, including North Buckinghamshire and South Northamptonshire,
from 1800 to the present day. During this period the area changed greatly,
culminating in the decision in the 1960s to create the UK's last "new
city" of Milton Keynes.
Milton Keynes Museum:
Bill Griffiths, Museums Director
Tel: 01908 316222
Email: bill.griffiths@mkmuseum.org.uk
Keith Wootton, Public Relations Consultant
Tel: 01327 830675
Email: mkm@keithwootton.co.uk
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