I Dig Sheffield | Digging Around Sheffield and the Peaks

Dimensions : Diameter 2.6cm.

Site name : Doll Tor
Site type : Burial site

Time period : Bronze Age
Material : Faience
Object type : Grave goods; Personal item; Jewellery
Museum number : 1981.1248

The bead was found by J. P. and J. C. Heathcote during their excavations at Doll Tor stone circle in the early 1930s. They explored a cairn immediately to the east of the circle and found a number of burials there. The bead was found with burial G. This burial lay to the north of the central cist of the cairn. It was in a pit with an upright stone at its side. The burial was that of a man, probably under fifty years old. The only objects found with the bones were this bead and a bronze pin-head. Unfortunately the pin-head is lost.

This bead was made in this country, not in Egypt. Today archaeologists realise that our Bronze Age ancestors understood the working of copper and bronze. There is no reason why they could not have made faience for themselves.

The star bead form is found mostly in the north of England and Scotland. This example is on the southern edge of the area where they are found. It is almost complete, with slight damage to one of the points.

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Bibliography :
Heathcote, J. P. , 1939

Glossary:
Archaeologist
Bronze Age
Cairn
Cist
Excavation
Faience
J. P. and J. C. Heathcote
Stone circle

Related objects
Urn from Doll Tor
Faience bead from Stanton Moor
One of the beads from Galley Low
Arrowhead from Doll Tor

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