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The Ringlemere gold cup
Detail
Computer reconstruction
Height: 140.000 mm
Weight: 184.000 g
P&E 2003 5-1 1
Prehistory and Europe
Buried Treasures Unearthed
The Ringlemere gold cup
This crushed object was found in November 2001 by Cliff Bradshaw, while metal detecting near Ringlemere in east Kent. It is one of the most important recent finds in Britain.
Cliff had been studying archaeology and realized that the object was gold and probably ancient. Researching further, he found a picture of the only Bronze Age gold cup found in Britain - the Rillaton cup. Cliff realized his discovery was important and reported it.
An archaeological dig took place to find out more about where the cup was found. This revealed that the cup came from a massive burial mound surrounded by a circular ditch. Scientists and archaeologists at the British Museum also examined the cup using X-rays and an endoscope. We now know that it was worked from a single ingot of gold using a hammer and former and we can recreate its shape. It was not crushed when first buried, but was damaged by farming.
Originally, the cup had a pointed base, so it could not have been put down when it was full. So did you have to drink it in one go or drink some and pass it on? And what was the drink? Whatever the answers, the burial of this gold cup shows that someone very important lived in East Kent 3700 years ago.
From the collection of the British Museum