Appeal

UPDATE: We’re delighted that we have now reached our funding target for this item.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this appeal. There will be more news on this important acquisition in due course.

Help Dorset Museum & Art Gallery to acquire a Late Bronze Age gold bracelet from Hilton, Dorset

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery have the opportunity to acquire a rare item from the Late Bronze Age. The item was found in Hilton, Dorset, and is currently going through the Treasure process. The object has been valued at £1,200 and we have currently raised £720 towards the object, with £480 still to raise.

The object is part of a Late Bronze Age (c. 950 – 750 BC) gold bracelet with an expanded terminal, which has been deliberately cut and folded around itself.

Why the object is significant

This item is a rarity in the county. Whilst Bronze Age gold objects are by their nature rare, those known from Dorset and dating to the Late Bronze Age only comprise a limited number of forms, and gold items are vastly outweighed by finds of base metal objects.

This item provides an indication that the deliberate modification of gold objects prior to their deposition continued into the Late Bronze Age in Dorset. Many Bronze Age metal objects were deliberately modified in antiquity, but this is not apparently related to treating the object as scrap, but rather carries some other social meaning within which larger objects such as bracelets and torcs were portioned and changed before entering the ground. This object is also significant for the location where it was found. The majority of finds of Bronze Age gold (and indeed bronze) objects have been recovered from the more north-easterly part of the county around Cranborne Chase. This was located in the centre of the county in the chalk valleys, an area which is rich in prehistoric archaeology but less researched and poorly understood.

What we will do with the object

If acquired, the item will strengthen our ability to explain aspects of Late Bronze Age society, through public displays and learning programmes, and broaden the collection so that it will be of even greater interest and use to researchers.

If we are unable to raise the remaining funds for this item, the item is likely to be sold privately outside of the county, with potential for research on the item lost.

How you can help

If you are would like to contribute to this appeal, you can do so by donating using the following link: https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/26620, or by sending a cheque made payable to Dorset Natural History & Archaeology Society to:

Dorset Museum & Art Gallery

66 High West Street

Dorchester

Dorset

D1 1XA

Please indicate in a note with the cheque that the donation is for the Hilton bracelet appeal.

Image: ©Somerset County Council 2.0 Generic