- Museum number
- 1893,1228.15
- Title
- Object: The Folkton Drums
- Description
-
Chalk drum; incised decoration.
Top: on roundel; five concentric incised circles at centre of four-rayed star pattern; field between rays with incised triangles, three lattice-filled and one filled with vertical lines; at base of roundel, one incised circumferential line;
Body: at top and base, three and two encircling grooved lines respectively; on surface, two broad and two narrow panels separated by triple vertical incised lines;
Panel A: 'eyebrows, nose and eyes' motif in relief; below, central triple incised lozenge, flanked by triple incised lines with lift lower and right upper half lattice-filled; beneath, triple incised vertical chevron;
Panel C: opposed reserved bar chevron outlined by triple incised lines; centre: triple incised lozenge; left and right fields: quadruple triangles divided by double incised lines, the upper halves filled with incised lattice; upper field: vertical bar chevron with incised double lozenge and triangle filled with incised lattice; lower field: eroded but ?similar with bar chevron inverted and one triangle filled with vertical lines;
Panels B and D: 'flag' pattern formed by triple incised opposed chevrons; each field divided with one half scraped and left plain, the other filled with incised lattice; in lateral triangles, divisions formed by double incised lines.
- Production date
- 2500BC-2000BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 140.50 - 144 millimetres
-
Height: 119 millimetres
-
Weight: 2978.50 grammes
- Curator's comments
- From a barrow at Folkton, North Yorkshire (Folkton II or ‘Bording Dale’), which was first investigated in October 1889, before being re-excavated by T.C.M. Brewster in 1969. The barrow was reduced by plough damage, but an outer ditch with a diameter of 17m was found by Brewster. The barrow contained an adolescent inhumation in an oval grave (burial 1), which was found with the three Folkton Drums and a bone pin. A number of other burials were uncovered during the 1889 and 1969 excavations.
Other finds from the same site in The British Museum collections include:
1893,1228.15-17 – the Folkton Drums (burial 1)
1893,1228.18 – pin (burial 1)
1893,1228.19 – Beaker (burial 7)
1982,0101.86-91 – pottery, flints, and a jet necklace (burial 8 & grave fill)
1982,0101.92-94 – pottery and flints (pit or posthole)
1982,0101.95-127 – pottery and flints (mound material)
- Location
- On display (G51/dc6)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2022 17 Feb - 17 Jul, London, BM, G30, The world of Stonehenge
2018-2019 Oct-Apr, Wiltshire, Stonehenge Visitor Centre, Making New Worlds
2004 26 Jun-29 Aug, Niigata Bandaijima Art Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2004 10 Apr-13 Jun, Fukuoka Art Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2004 17 Jan-28 Mar, Kobe City Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2003 18 Oct-14 Dec, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2001 12 Dec-2002 28 Feb, Leeds, Henry Moore Institute, The Unidentified Museum Object
1985 1 Aug-13 Oct, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge
1984 5 Sep-15 Oct, Belgium, Tournai, Halle aux Drapes, Au Temps de Stonehenge
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1893,1228.15
