The value of broken things: fragments from the Bronze Age

Abstract

• The value of an object is often framed in terms of its completeness. As individuals and as a museum, we like pristine things and try to keep them that way. If something breaks, we repair it. If it is broken beyond repair, we may replace it. And yet, sometimes it is the broken, incomplete things that yield the greatest insights into past lives. In this blog, Dr Matt Knight explores this idea through the treatment of bronze and gold objects from the Bronze Age in Scotland (c.2400 – 800BC).