Bush Barrow is a site of the early

British Bronze Age Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from until . Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. Being categorised as t ...

Wessex culture The Wessex culture is the predominant prehistoric culture of central and southern Britain during the early Bronze Age, originally defined by the British archaeologist Stuart Piggott in 1938.Normanton Down Barrows Normanton Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age barrow cemetery located about south of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The burials date from between 2600 and 1600 BC and consist of a Neolithic long barrow and some 40 or more Bronze Age round ...

cemetery. It is among the most important sites of the

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

complex, having produced some of the most spectacular

grave goods Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are the items buried along with the body. They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods may be classed as a ...

in Britain. It was excavated in 1808 by

William Cunnington William Cunnington FSA (1754 – 31 December 1810) was an English antiquarian and archaeologist. Cunnington was a self-educated merchant, who developed an interest in the rich archaeological landscape around the Wiltshire village of Heytes ...

for Sir

Richard Colt Hoare Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Baronet FRS (9 December 1758 – 19 May 1838) was an English antiquarian, archaeologist, artist, and traveller of the 18th and 19th centuries, the first major figure in the detailed study of the history of his home ...

. The finds, including worked gold objects, are displayed at

Wiltshire Museum The Wiltshire Museum, formerly known as Wiltshire Heritage Museum and Devizes Museum, is a museum, archive and library and art gallery in Devizes, Wiltshire, England. The museum was established and is run by the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natu ...

Devizes Devizes is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-century ...

Description

Bush Barrow is situated around 1 kilometre southwest of

on Normanton Down. It forms part of the

Normanton Down Barrows Normanton Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age barrow cemetery located about south of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England. The burials date from between 2600 and 1600 BC and consist of a Neolithic long barrow and some 40 or more Bronze Age round ...

cemetery. The surviving earthworks have an overall diameter of and comprise a large mound with breaks in the slope suggesting three phases of development. The barrow currently stands 3.3 metres high and its summit measures 10.5 metres in diameter. The barrow is one of the "associated sites" in the

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

covering

Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) in Wiltshire, England. The WHS covers two large areas of land separated by about , rather than a specific monument or building. The sites were inscribed as co-listi ...

(Cultural, ID 373, 1986). The Normanton Down round barrow cemetery comprises some 40 barrows strung out along an east-west aligned ridge. Bush Barrow (so named by Cunnington because it had bushes on it) is towards the western end of the line of barrows, sited at the highest point of the ridge.

The barrow was excavated in 1808 by

for Sir

. It contained a male skeleton with a collection of funerary goods that make it "the richest and most significant example of a Bronze Age burial monument not only in the Normanton Group or in association with Stonehenge, but arguably in the whole of Britain". The items date the burial to the early Bronze Age, circa 1900 BC, and include a large 'lozenge'-shaped sheet of gold, a sheet gold belt plate, three bronze daggers, a bronze axe, a stone macehead and bronze rivets, all on display at the

, Devizes.

Bush Barrow Lozenge

The design of the artifact known as the ''Bush Barrow Lozenge'', and the smaller lozenge, has been shown to be based on a hexagon construction. Both the shape and the decorative panels appear to have been created by repeating hexagons within a series of three concentric circles (each framing the series of smaller decorative panels). The precision and accuracy displayed by the work demonstrates both a sophisticated tool kit and a sound knowledge of geometric form. A similar gold lozenge from

Clandon Barrow 200px, The Clandon Barrow gold lozenge Clandon Barrow is a very large bowl barrow dating from the Bronze Age, which overlooks the village of Martinstown, near Dorchester in Dorset, and which lies on the same ridge as Maiden Castle, near to th ...

, in Dorset, used a decagon in its design. The design of the Bush Barrow Lozenge also indicates that it has an astronomical meaning. The acute angles of the overall design (81°) are equal to the angle between the midsummer and midwinter

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

sunrises, as seen at the latitude of Stonehenge. A similar feature is seen on the contemporary Nebra sky disc, where the angle formed by the gold arcs on the edge of the disc (82°) is equal to the angle between the solstices at the latitude of the Mittelberg hill where the disc was found. John North (1996) suggests that the angles of the Clandon Barrow lozenge could similarly correspond to the solstices at the latitude of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

, or to the lunar cycle at the latitude of southern England. When the sides of the Bush Barrow lozenge are aligned with the solstices, the long axis of the lozenge will also point to the

equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

sunrise. According to David Dawson, Director of the

, the design and precision of the Bush Barrow Lozenge shows that its makers "understood astronomy, geometry and mathematics, 4,000 years ago." Archaeologist Anthony Johnson argues this understanding of geometry has its origins in the preceding

Megalithic A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

Henge There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork that are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three is that they feature a ring-shaped bank and ditch, with the ditch inside the bank. Because the internal ...

culture. Euan Mackie, following

Alexander Thom Alexander Thom (26 March 1894 – 7 November 1985) was a Scottish engineer most famous for his theory of the Megalithic yard, categorisation of stone circles and his studies of Stonehenge and other archaeological sites. Life and work Early l ...

, also suggests a Megalithic origin for the knowledge of astronomy. A connection between geometry and astronomy has been noted in the layout of Stonehenge and other Megalithic sites, such as the Crucuno Rectangle in Brittany. According to archaeologist Sabine Gerloff (2007), the use of lozenge and zig-zag forms, which also appear on

Bell Beaker The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age. Arising from a ...

pottery and

gold lunulae The Gold lunula (plural: lunulae) is a distinctive type of late Neolithic, Chalcolithic or (most often) early Bronze Age necklace or collar shaped like a crescent moon; most are from Prehistoric Ireland. They are normally flat and thin, with ...

, indicates "a continuation of some Megalithic traditions, beliefs and cult practices into the Early Bronze Age". Lozenges are also depicted on the

Folkton Drums The Folkton Drums are a very rare set of three decorated chalk objects in the shape of drums or solid cylinders dating from the Neolithic period. Found in a child's grave near the village of Folkton in northern England, they are now on loan to ...

, which are thought to represent measuring devices used in the construction Stonehenge and other megalithic monuments. John North has further identified "submultiples of the Megalithic Yard" in the design of the Bush Barrow Lozenge.

Daggers

Two of the bronze daggers have the largest blades of any from their period, whilst a third had a long wooden hilt originally decorated with up to 140,000 tiny gold studs forming a herringbone pattern. The studs are around wide and in length with over a thousand studs embedded in each square centimetre. David Dawson has stated that: "The gold studs are remarkable evidence of the skill and craftsmanship of Bronze Age goldsmiths – quite rightly described as 'the work of the gods'". Optician Ronald Rabbetts has said that "Only children and teenagers, and those adults who had become myopic naturally or due to the nature of their work as children, would have been able to create and manufacture such tiny objects." Scientific analyses indicate that the gold originated from Cornwall. This was also the source of gold used to make the Nebra sky disc and Irish

. The dagger may have been made in either Britain or Brittany (

Armorica Armorica or Aremorica (Gaulish: ; br, Arvorig, ) is the name given in ancient times to the part of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire that includes the Brittany Peninsula, extending inland to an indeterminate point and down the Atlantic Coast ...

), where similar examples of gold-stud decoration are known. Gold-stud decoration was also used on the amber pommel of a dagger from Hammeldon Down Barrow in Devon, dating from the Wessex II period. The hilt of the Bush Barrow dagger lay forgotten for over 40 years from the 1960s, having been sent to Professor Atkinson at Cardiff University, and was found by one of his successors in 2005.

Antique knife

Some bronze rivets and other bronze fragments have been identified as the remains of a knife dating from about 2400 BC, suggesting that the Bush Barrow chieftain may have belonged to a "noble dynasty" dating back to the time of Stonehenge's construction.

Stone mace

An unusual stone mace head lay to the right of the Bush Barrow skeleton, made out of a rare fossilized stromatoporoid (

sea sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...

), originating in Devon or Cornwall. It had a wooden handle, from which decorative zig-zag-shaped bone mounts survive. The mace is considered to be a symbol of power or authority. Similar bone mounts have been found in

Grave Circle B Grave Circle B in Mycenae is a 17th–16th century BC royal cemetery situated outside the late Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae, southern Greece. This burial complex was constructed outside the fortification walls of Mycenae and together with Grave C ...

Mycenae Mycenae ( ; grc, Μυκῆναι or , ''Mykē̂nai'' or ''Mykḗnē'') is an archaeological site near Mykines in Argolis, north-eastern Peloponnese, Greece. It is located about south-west of Athens; north of Argos; and south of Corinth. Th ...

in Greece, at Illeta dels Banyets in Spain (associated with the

Argaric culture The Argaric culture, named from the type site El Argar near the town of Antas, in what is now the province of Almería in southeastern Spain, is an Early Bronze Age culture which flourished between c. 2200 BC and 1550 BC. The Argaric culture w ...

), and in gold form at

Carnac Carnac (; br, italic=no, Karnag, ) is a commune beside the Gulf of Morbihan on the south coast of Brittany in the Morbihan department in north-western France. Its inhabitants are called ''Carnacois'' in French. Carnac is renowned for the C ...

in Brittany (associated with the

Bell Beaker culture The Bell Beaker culture, also known as the Bell Beaker complex or Bell Beaker phenomenon, is an archaeological culture named after the inverted-bell beaker drinking vessel used at the very beginning of the European Bronze Age. Arising from a ...

). Various authors have suggested a connection between the bone mounts in Britain and those in Greece, where they appear without local antecedents. This is supported by the finding of

amber Amber is fossilized tree resin that has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Much valued from antiquity to the present as a gemstone, amber is made into a variety of decorative objects."Amber" (2004). In Ma ...

necklaces from Britain in the elite shaft graves at Mycenae (Grave circles A and B). According to Joseph Maran (2013), "In Greece, amber objects first make their appearance in the seventeenth or sixteenth centuries BCE at the very beginning of the Mycenaean period. ... the amber objects had not reached Greece from the Baltic, but, mostly as finished products, from the area of the Wessex culture of southern England. ... There is an amazing similarity between the shaft grave period and the Wessex culture not only in the amber items as such and their close association with gold, but also in the social contexts of the appearance of amber jewellery … in both regions such special amber objects were confined to the very small group of the most richly furnished burials.” Close similarities have also been noted between the gold-stud decoration of the Bush Barrow dagger and the decoration of elite weapons in Mycenaean Greece. The gold-stud technique is exclusively attested in Britain, Armorica and Mycenaean Greece, with the oldest examples coming from Britain and Armorica. In Greece this technique, known as 'gold embroidery', first appears in the shaft graves at Mycenae. According to Nikolas Papadimitriou and colleagues (2021), "Mycenaean gold embroidery first occurred in the same context as two other types of artefacts that are considered indicative of northern European links: amber spacer-plates with complex boring and weapons with in‐laid decoration." According to Sabine Gerloff (2007, 2010) the gold-stud technique originated in Britain and was transferred to Greece, along with amber necklaces and zig-zag and lozenge-shaped decorative elements, including the bone mounts from Mycenae. According to Gerloff the gold plating and metal-inlay techniques used on the Nebra sky disc and related artefacts (such as the Thun-Renzenbühl axe) also have their origin in Britain, and are connected to Mycenaean metalwork. Daniel Berger and colleagues (2013) similarly suggest that the Mycenaean metal-inlay technique known as ' double-damascening' may have its origin in northwestern or central Europe.

Wider context

It is not known why this barrow contained such rich grave goods compared to those around it. It occupies the highest point, but is not the tallest barrow, and is not obviously marked out as the principal barrow in the cemetery. In particular it is not known if other barrows in the vicinity have simply had such goods plundered long ago. Numerous finds have been made in other barrows, both by Cunnington and subsequently, but nothing to compare to these. According to Barrett and Bowden, "absence of evidence does not necessarily imply evidence of absence".

References

External links

{{Commons category, Bush Barrow
Rethinking Bush Barrow
''Archaeology'' magazine January/February 2009
Bush Barrow page
at the Wiltshire Museum website
The Bush Barrow gold lozenge
''

The Sky at Night ''The Sky at Night'' is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first broadcast on 24 April 1957 until 7 January 2013. The latter date ...

'', BBC, 8 July 2013 Barrows in the United Kingdom Sites associated with Stonehenge Archaeological sites in Wiltshire Bronze Age art Bronze Age sites in Wiltshire 1808 archaeological discoveries Scheduled monuments in Wiltshire