Excavated by William Cunnington in 1808, Bush barrow is a bowl barrow situated to the south of Stonehenge. At 40m in diameter and 3m high, it dominates the 58 barrow graves overlooking the megalithic stone circle. It was the last resting place for a Bronze age chieftain whose realm may have encompassed Stonehenge itself.
The Bush Barrow Grave
Only one body was found in the bush barrow grave that of a tall, well built adult male. The body was originally believed to be positioned on its back, in a north to south alignment, although recent reanalysis suggests that he may have been positioned crouched on his left side.
In the grave with him were various finds which were used to date the burial to between 1900-1700BC.
These grave goods, which are amongst the richest bronze age examples in Britain have also been used to identify Bush Barrow as the grave of a bronze age ruler.
It has been suggested that the bush barrow grave is one of a family group of burials, with other nearby tumuli containing the remains of the family of or ancestors of the bush barrow chieftain.
The Bush Barrow Grave Goods
The bush barrow chieftain was buried with rich high status decorative items, weapons and items identified as royal insignia. They include:
· Weapons. A group of three daggers were laid out unsheathed in from of the chieftain. One was an Armorice-British dagger, probably made in Brittany. Its handle is unique because of the intricacy of its decoration. As many as 140,000 0.5 mm gold studs were set into the daggers wooden handle in a lozenge pattern. Many have only just been rediscovered and linked to the dagger handle. The other two daggers are not so well preserved but are amongst the largest of their kind found. The burial also included a bronze axe head.
· Stone mace head . Found beside the body, the head of the mace was of a rare flecked Devonshire stone and its handle decorated with a zig zag pattern. The rarity of the material and ostentation of the decor has led to this being interpreted as a bronze age royal sceptre
· Gold lozenge shaped breastplate decorated with many delicate linear patterns. This was accompanied by a similar, smaller plaque.
· Belt fittings including a belt hook of sheet gold inscribed with linear patterns.
It is not certain whether the grave goods were purpose made or used when the chieftain was alive
Sources
Current Archaeology 226
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