daily timewaster

An exceptional Bronze Age shield is returning to Scotland for the first time since it was moved to London in 1791. It has been loaned to National Museums Scotland where it will join five of the Bronze Age shields in its permanent collection in the new exhibition Scotland’s First Warriors.

The shield was discovered in Beith, North Ayrshire, around 1779 during peat harvesting on Luggtonrigge Farm. It was found in a ring with five or six other bronze shields, suggesting they had been deposited together for ritual or ceremonial purposes.

The shield is made of a single sheet of bronze about 27 inches in diameter and just .5mm thick. It has a central boss with a handle riveted to the back of it. There were also two tabs on the back to which a shoulder strap would have originally been attached. It is decorated with 29 concentric rings of small studs bosses alternating with ribs. It dates to ca. 1300-1100 B.C.

There are only 22 shields of this type known, almost all of them found in Britain. One of the 22 was found in Denmark, but archaeologists believe they were produced in Britain and Ireland. The shields were made in a complex process that required hundreds of rounds of hammering, heating and cooling. It required a high level of expertise and can only have been achieved by specialists with years of experience.

Via the always good History Blog.