Decorated bronze mirror
Iron Age, 100-1 BC
From Trelan Bahow, St Keverne, Cornwall, England
In 1833 a new road was being made across the Trelan estate in
western Cornwall when the workmen found a number of Iron Age
burials. For most of the Iron Age in Britain the dead were never
buried but excarnated instead. Cornwall is unusual in this period
because some people were buried in graves. Cornish graves were made
in cists: stone boxes made in a hole dug into the ground.
This mirror was discovered in one of the graves found by the
workmen in 1833. There were other objects in the grave including
two brooches, two glass beads and two rings or bracelets. No
scientific examination was carried out on the skeleton to establish
the dead person's sex and it was assumed that a mirror and
jewellery must belong to a woman. However, in 1999 a second mirror
was found in a Cornish grave. This time a sword accompanied the
mirror. It is often assumed that swords are only found in men's
graves in the Iron Age, but this time modern scientific techniques
will be used to establish if the person buried in the grave was a
man or a woman.
J.J. Rogers, 'Romano-British or Late Celtic remains at Trelan Bahow, St Keverne, Cornwall', Archaeological Journal, 30 (1873), pp. 267-72
R.A. Smith, A guide to the antiquities o-1 (London, British Museum, 1905)