"The cape is one of the finest examples of prehistoric sheet-gold working and is quite unique in form and design. It was laboriously beaten out of a single ingot of gold, then embellished with intense decoration of ribs and bosses to mimic multiple strings of beads amid folds of cloth.
Almost 4,000 years old, the cape was in fragments when discovered in 1833
in a stone quarry in Mold, Flintshire, North Wales.
Originally thought to have been worn by a high ranking chieftain, when reconstructed
it became obvious that it could only be worn by a slim woman or child.
The Mold Gold Cape - Includes information about its restoration
Mold Gold Cape: A Closer Look
Mold's Gold Cape and Other Important Local Finds
Mold Gold Cape - 15 minute audio - "A gold cape made almost 4,000 years ago and discovered in 1833, by a group of workmen looking for stones in a field near the village of Mold in North Wales. This sheet of pure gold, found wrapped around a skeleton, inspires Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum, to envisage the society that made it. Nothing like the contemporary courts of the pharaohs of Egypt, or the Minoan palaces of Crete, seems to have existed in Britain at that time, but he imagines a people with surprisingly sophisticated skills and social structures." - NOTE: You'll need to be patient - it may take 5 minutes for it to load.
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/ahow/ahow_20100211-1000a.mp3
3 comments:
Amazing! Thank you for all of the wonderful things you share here.
Glad you enjoyed it Vicki...it's fascinating to think about the level of creativity and the incredible skill it took to create something like this with only the tools available 4,000 years ago! Makes me wonder what on earth the artist would be able to create with what's available now.
Of course, another take on it would be whether or not more technology/techniques would be a deterrent. Hm-m-m-m...
Have you noticed that the design of the cape matches the gold cone hats scattered around Europe? Anyone wearing the hat and cape would look like a wizard... Merlin?
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