The 2300-2000BC Gold Lunula
An unnamed detectorist found the new lunula in a cultivated field near Garlieston, Sorbie in March 2011, the first Scottish gold lunula found in over 100 years.
Scraps of gold found in the Sorbie area will focus attention on the mystery that is the lunula, a flat, crescent-shaped neck ornament thought to date from around 2300–2200BBC, and described by some archaeologists as a symbol of power.
The gold sheet, probably hammered out from a bar, is very thin (0.15–0.5mm) and decorated around its edges with incised and punched zigzags, lines and dots. It had been cut up and folded, and the two pieces do not join; together they amount to just under a third of the original collar.
Initial surface analysis by Susy Kirk of National Museums Scotland has shown that the metal contains 11% silver and 0.5% copper. Further analysis may indicate whether the lunula had been made of Irish or Scottish gold.
John Pickin of Stranraer Museum excavated two test pits; and Historic Scotland commissioned Rose Geophysical Consultants to undertake a geophysical survey.
Stranraer Museum and the Wigtownshire branch of the University of the Third Age walked the field looking for artefacts.
No more metalwork was found, nor any evidence for why the lunula might have been buried there.
Read more about this topic: Wigtownshire
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