About 4,000 years ago, two people were buried near Stonehenge with grave goods that
However, a simple answer to the question whether thisa person a shaman, a jeweler or something else, no. "Grave goods are more than a representation of a person's personality," scientists wrote in a study published in the journal Antiquity. The artifacts found hint at the complexity of ancient identities and that roles such as "shaman" and "jeweler" do not adequately reflect the identities of people who may have been more multitasking than previously thought.
“We tend to think of people in simple terms —shaman, metalworker, mage, leader. But this modern Western approach is out of place when it comes to life in the early second millennium BC,” Timothy Darvill, an archaeologist at Bournemouth University, told Live Science.
Funerary goods from a mound at Upton Lovellcreated a sensation when it was excavated in 1801. It is now on display at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes. Image credit: Crellin et al./Antiquity
In 1801, archaeologists discovered manyartifacts of the Bronze Age, including stone tools, in the barrow. It has been dated to around 1800 BC. and found near the village of Upton Lovell, about 16 km west of Stonehenge.
Artifacts include flint axes, a necklace made ofbeads of polished stone and dozens of bone tips, perhaps from another necklace and fringe of clothing. The collection now on display at the Wiltshire Museum in Devizes was interpreted at the time as the grave goods of a "shaman" or holy man.
Traces of gold and other minerals on the instruments. Credit: Crellin et al./Antiquity
The floor of the two people buried in the mound has never beenwas identified, but in 1801 they were considered a shaman and his wife. The latest study, however, lends credence to the idea that at least one of them was famous for his talent for creating jewelry out of gold and other precious materials, said study lead author Rachel Crellin, an archaeologist at the University of Leicester in the UK.
Scientists have found traces of gold on stonetools during the re-analysis of artifacts using modern archaeological methods. In particular, they used a scanning electron microscope and an X-ray spectrometer.
Traces of gold and other minerals on the axe. Credit: Crellin et al./Antiquity
The study confirmed that traces of gold ontools have been around for a very long time. They were found on some tools, for example, on an ax. Archaeologists said that it was remade. The wear and tear of the stone tools showed that they were used in various ways to shape gold and a variety of other materials such as amber, wood, copper, and jet.
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