Archaeology breakthrough as ancient tools discovered among grave goods near Stonehenge

To confirm their suspicions — and that the gold residues were indeed ancient, and not modern — the researchers teamed up with University of Southampton expert in Early Bronze Age goldworking, Dr Chris Standish.

The experts studied the tools and the gold residues using a scanning electron microscope and an energy dispersive spectrometer.

This analysis confirmed both that gold traces are present on five of the artefacts from the Upton Lovell G2a burial — including that previously identified by Dr Shell — and that these residues have an elemental signature that is consistent with that of Bronze Age goldwork that has been found elsewhere in the UK.

According to the researchers, the finding links not only these five tools but also a wider suite of stone and copper-alloy artefacts from the barrow with the goldworking process.

Dr Tsoraki and her colleagues believe that the tools would have been used to fashion multi-material objects in which a core of amber, copper, jet, shale or wood would have been decorated with a thin layer of gold sheet.

READ MORE: 1,300-year-old necklace found at medieval female burial site

Article source: https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1710961/archaeology-news-bronze-age-goldworking-stone-tool-kit-Stonehenge