Creating a research framework and strategy for early gold in Britain's auriferous regions

Abstract

• This presentation outlines a current AHRC-funded initiative that has created an international network of those involved in the study of gold, to create a Research Framework and Strategy relating to gold use in Britain's auriferous regions, 2450-800 BC. This deals with issues of locating and characterising the source areas; of identifying the compositional and physical changes that gold undergoes as it is worked, alloyed, mixed and recycled; of sourcing gold (including consideration of all the potential gold source areas); of understanding how it was worked, what the influences on goldworking traditions were, and how goldworking know-how was passed on; and of considering the value and significance of gold to its users in Britain's auriferous zones during the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. Gold and goldworking were Beaker introductions to Britain, but from around 2200 BC, Cornish gold seems to have been used. We try to trace the pattern of raw material exploitation and of the changing provision and supply of gold over 1500+ years.