The Accomplished Art

Around 1500 gold objects from the British and Irish Bronze Age survive in collections today. Based on studies of these objects, this volume presents an evaluation and interpretation of the material in social terms, and is complemented by distribution maps and illustrations of typical examples of each class or sub-class in their own right, gold objects of the Bronze Age are also vital documents aiding our understanding not only of the work of craftsmen and technicians but also of the broader aspects of society such as social stratification, trade, commerce and ritual. After examining the natural and historical setting of British and Irish gold, this book looks at gold-working at four main periods during the Bronze Age: Beaker societies and the earliest insular gold objects; gold working in an age of industrial expansion and wealth; cultural transformation of the 13th-12th centuries BC; final late Bronze Age gold, apogee and end.