Scottish Late Bronze Age Metalwork: Typology, Distribution and Chronology

therefore be an imported piece. 1 The twisted tore is represented in Scotland by only one fragmentary example, in the Glentrool hoard (PI.I) but other British tore forms may also be related chronologically.At Edington Burtle and Wedmore, Somerset, these cast bronze neckrings were found with bronze ribbon tores, 2 and at Winterhay in the same region probable ribbon tores in gold were associated with a palstave of the 'Ornament horizon'.3 It is therefore a possibility that some or all of the North British gold ribbon tores belong to our Glentrool phase, the northern equivalent of the 'Ornament horizon'.At the Law Farm in Morayshire a hoard contained both bronze and gold ribbon tores.4 Lozenge-sectioned penannular bracelets are another Nordic feature in the 'Ornament horizon' hoards of southern Britain, occurring in bronze at Ebbesbourne, Wiltshire 5 and the only Scottish example of this type is a gold bracelet from Stonehill, Lanarks, found with two normal bracelets with expanded terminals.This find is however more likely to belong to the full Late Bronze Age, as at Downpatrick, 6 and possibly the gold ribbon tores too may represent a later north British development from the Ornament horizon bronze forms.In addition to the twisted bar tore, the Glentrool hoard contains a disc-headed pin with stem loop.This is unrepresented in the south of England but occurs in Northern Europe where it is dated to Period II and III.7 Two of these pins are known from Ireland. 8 Connections with Northern Europe either directly or via Somerset are shown by the tore and the pin at Glentrool, but certain British relations are illustrated by the flat tanged knife in this hoard which is duplicated in the Monkswood, Somerset, find.9 The other members of Glentrool include a basallooped spear-head and a wing-flanged axe.The former is a type found over much of Britain and Ireland 10 and was exported to Northern Europe as early as the fourteenth century.11 The Scottish distribution is mainly southern.Smith has pointed out that most of the British associations are with material of the 'Ornament' horizon.There are two other main types of Middle Bronze spearhead well represented in Scotland, not including the rare probably ceremonial protected-looped spearheads (Lordscarnie, Fife, spearhead is 22 inches long).One of these types has a kite-shaped blade with loops on the socket (Hodges' 'socket-looped' type) and is decorated by ribs (fig.i, i).This form is only sparsely distributed in Scotland (map 2) and probably we must look to an Irish source for south British ones.There are no known moulds for this type in Scotland.The other form however, is ex-1 Sprockhoff, E., 'Niedersachsens Bedeutung fur die Bronzezeit Westeuropas', Bericht Rom.-Germ.Kommission xxxi (ii) (1941)) ma P a bb.86, taf.59.The Tumulus-related wheel pin in this grave should date not later than 1200. 2 Smith, op.cit.(1959), 146. 3 Savory, op.cit.(1958), 13. 4 Distribution in Savory, op.cit.(1958), 58.See Appendix i for Scottish list.6