Gold in Britain's auriferous regions, 2450-800 BC: towards a coherent Research Framework and Strategy

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We aim to understand better the pre-Iron Age gold artefacts that have been found in Britain's auriferous (gold-bearing) regions - Scotland, Wales and parts of western England. These include some of Britain's best-known gold objects, such as the 720-gramme 'cape' found at Mold, north-east Wales. Despite decades of study and perennial public fascination in such objects, many questions still remain: was local or non-local gold used to make them (or a mixture of gold from different sources)? Where, how and why were they made? How was the production of gold objects organised? How was the know-how for extracting and working gold passed on? What was gold's significance, meaning and value to the people who used it? Such questions are important because gold offers us a way of understanding the social and economic dynamics of Copper Age and Bronze Age societies, at regional, national and international scales. Gold has been used as a symbol of power ever since its use, and the know-how to extract and work it, were introduced to Britain by Continental immigrants around 2450 BC. Gold objects will have played a prominent role in interactions between elites. As a rare, precious material that can catch the sun's rays and dazzle the observer, it was probably invested with potent symbolism. We have only just begun to appreciate the nuances of its use and significance in prehistoric Britain. But there are exciting developments: master goldworker Brian Clarke is currently completing a replica of the Mold 'cape', his work yielding new insights into the tools, techniques and expertise of the Bronze Age goldworker; and Dr Chris Standish's recent lead isotope analysis of Irish and some Scottish Early Bronze Age gold artefacts has overturned long-held views by showing they were made using gold from Cornwall or Devon, rather than Ireland.Developing our understanding further requires an approach that crosses disciplinary and geographical boundaries. So we propose to bring together, for the first time, many of the foremost researchers on prehistoric gold in Europe - archaeologists, geologists, geochemists, archaeometallurgists and practising goldworkers - into a Research Network, along with early career researchers and postgraduates. They will be tasked with taking stock of what we do and do not know about gold as a raw material and as finished artefacts in Britain's auriferous regions, c 2450-800 BC, setting this within a broader national and international context; defining the key outstanding research questions; and formulating a coherent, effective research strategy to tackle those questions. They will do so through a series of three symposia, held in Edinburgh, Cardiff and (to underline the strong Irish links that did exist during this period) Dublin. The resulting Research Framework and Strategy will be disseminated as an on-line, open access resource on the National Museums' Scotland website. Why focus on Britain's auriferous regions? Because: i) here is where we have the best chance of detecting the use of local vs. non-local gold in the case of objects that have not been repeatedly recycled or made from mixed-source gold; and ii) the task is manageable within the project timescale. But the Network's perspective and value will extend far further: it will set new standards for prehistoric gold research and lay the foundations for a major international research project.The Network's activities will be outward-facing, benefiting a wide range of stakeholders. There will be public lectures and podcasts by Network members and,after the Dublin symposium, a practical demonstration of Bronze Age-style metalworking by Brian Clarke, filmed for the Network's web pages. Information on and images of individual gold objects from the study area will be posted on the web pages, and social media will track developments and allow public feedback. There will be academic and popular publications and conference presentations, including at the 2019 EAA conference.