Weight regulation in British and Irish Bronze Age gold objects: a reanalysis and reinterpretation. (April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hermann, Raphael
• Is Part Of: Antiquity. Volume 96:Number 386(2022)
• Page Start: 336
• Page End: 353
• Publication Date: 2022-04
• Subjects: Britain -- Ireland -- Bronze Age -- gold -- weight regulation -- Cosine Quantogram Analysis; Archaeology -- Periodicals; Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.05
• DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2021.54
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-598X

Abstract

Abstract: Abstract : Sophisticated metrological systems were common in the European Bronze Age and mass-regulation has been argued for various classes of object, including gold artefacts. A recent study published in Antiquity used Cosine Quantogram Analysis to demonstrate mass-regulation in a small sample of gold objects from Britain, Ireland and France. Since then, substantial quantities of new data from British Bronze Age gold objects have been collated. Here, the author presents the results of Cosine Quantogram Analysis on nearly 1000 such objects—the largest sample analysed to date. The results demonstrate that, even though some regularities can be discerned, mass-regulation is no longer a tenable interpretation of gold objects from Bronze Age Britain.