Gathering light
a Bronze Age golden sun
Tour schedule
Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
10 September – 12 December 2021
Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
6 August – 5 November 2022
The Collection, Lincoln
11 November 2022 – 20 February 2023
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
25 February – 3 June 2023
Museum nan Eilean, Stornoway
10 June – 16 September 2023
Contact us
For more information about how to borrow from the Museum contact:
ukpartnerships@britishmuseum.org
Discover the most significant Bronze Age gold metalwork find in over a century in this British Museum Spotlight Loan.
Found in the Shropshire Marches in May 2018, the gold pendant dates between 1000–800 BC and includes a rare depiction of the sun not previously seen on objects found in Britain.
Solar symbolism was a key element of mythology and belief in the Bronze Age, which lasted from around 2150–800 BC in Britain. This pendant celebrates the life-giving power of the sun during the time of the earliest metalworkers, revealing the importance of the sun in people's lives and its centrality to their beliefs in this period.
The pendant also marks the end of an era as one of the final expressions of an art style and belief system that lasted for almost 1,500 years. Deposited intentionally in a wetland landscape of bogs and ponds 3,000 years ago, it provides a starting point for discussions about the role of both water and the sun in ancient history.
Supported by the Dorset Foundation.
