Transcript
Turning over a 3,000-year-old Bronze Age shield with Artefact Conservator Bethan Bryan and Senior Curator of Early Prehistory Dr. Matthew Knight. We’re some of the first people to get to see this in 3,000 years. I love it. Shields are one of my favourite objects, and to be up this close to one is such a privilege. I’m Dr. Matthew Knight, I’m Senior Curator of Prehistory, responsible for the Bronze Age collections at National Museums Scotland.
The Auchmaleddie Shield
The Auchmaleddie shield — Dr. Matt Knight tells us about this Bronze Age shield, discovered in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1897. The shield that we have here today is from a site at Auchmaleddie excavated in 1897 with another shield, and this dates to the Bronze Age, about 3,500 years ago. These were really impressive bronze objects that were hammered from a single ingot of bronze and were incredibly decorative, but also very functional. And today we’re going to be turning over this shield, certainly for the first time for me.
As part of the conservation, we need to see what’s on the other side. And it’s a really exciting opportunity for us to learn more about how it was made, how it was used, and what that means to Bronze Age people. I’m really hoping that when we turn the shield over, we’re going to get to see signs of the tool marks that were used at the time, different tiny little marks that tell us a very human story about the people who made this object. But every now and again, you see a little human error where they’ve misjudged something. And those are the real personal human touches I love seeing on objects. So I’m kind of hoping that we might see a mistake.
Initial Assessment of the Shield
Bethan Bryan explains her initial assessment of the shield, and some of the conservation processes involved in getting it ready for display. I’m Bethan Bryan, I’m Assistant Artefact Conservator here at National Museums Scotland. So the shield, mostly what has been done is assessing its fragility. It’s been in storage for an awfully long time, and one of the reasons we haven’t done anything to it previously is because of fear of its fragility, of moving it or displaying it in any way. So my job has been to assess all of the very fragile parts that have been, the edges that have been lost, and the rim of the shield to make sure that it can be lifted, also made sure that it was clean. Ready.
At least the top has been cleaned, ready for display. And then later, once we have moved it over, it will be the back’s turn to actually be cleaned up and conserved. Looking forward to seeing the reverse of all of the very small decorative dots that are on the front. I want to see at the back of them. The metal work on the front is quite stable. There’s no signs of corrosion. I’m interested to see if there’s anything corroding on the back. If that’s the case, we need to treat it before we put it on display because we wouldn’t want it to get any worse. I’m also excited to work out how the handle actually would have sat because at the moment, placed on a flat surface, the handle is protruding through the surface and the front of the shield, and it’d be nice to actually see how it would have hung when the shield was held upright.
Turning Over the Shield
Bethan and Matt turn over the shield for the first time in 3,000 years, admiring some of the craftsmanship of this rare object. So Bethan and I are going to work out the best way of lifting and turning the shield over so that we can reveal what the back of it looks like. And as you can see, it’s a very fragile object. It’s incredibly thin. And there’s some parts that we need to make sure are stable. We’ll just slowly lift that up so that we can see the back of it. You can see how much it’s sort of bending as we move it. And okay, there we go, there we go. And then we get to see the back of the shield.
We’re some of the first people to get to see this in 3,000 years. These are just remarkable feats of craft. They’re so impressive. There’s so much time and attention that’s gone into making one of these things. And you can see better the contrast between the thinness of the shield. And then the cast handle is much thicker, and you can see the rivets where it would have been attached to the back of the shield. If we put that, I’ll put the handle. If you lay out some supporting blocks. We’ll just slowly lay that downward. Perfect.
The last person to see the shield in its complete form, and, you know, all sides of the shield would have been the person or people who put the object into the bog. So this was found with one other shield. They were deliberately placed into sort of a watery, boggy location 3,500 years ago. And that would have been the last time that people saw it before it was eventually dug up by farmers around 1897.
Features of the Bronze Age Shield
Dr. Matt Knight highlights some features of the Bronze Age shield that give us clues about how it was made and used. The immediate thing that we can see is the survival of this tab and a hole on the other side where another tab would have been, and these were additions to the shield that were there for putting on a strap, so you could have slung the shield over your shoulder or over your back. And this hole here marks the point at which basically the strap has broken. A lot of the other damage that you see is probably a result of it having been in the ground for 3,500 years.
And the other things that I’m looking for, as I look over it, is any potential dents or damage that might have been caused, either through the process of hammering and making the shield, or damage from a spear or a sword or something like that. If you think that each of these bosses was hammered in individually and they had to be perfectly spaced all the way around as the maker went, sometimes you can find the start and stop point because you can see where they’ve slightly misjudged it and it overlaps, but there’s a lot of them. There’s several thousand, so it can take quite a while to pinpoint. For me, there’s something quite incredible about being able to see the back of an object.
It’s getting to see that object in all of its different perspectives. The front might tell one story and the back might tell another. From this way, you can actually put your hands around the handle in a way that a Bronze Age person would have. It’s not stable enough to lift up by the handle, but this would have been such an important object that you’re literally defending your life with. And instead of the perspective of facing a shield, you’re actually getting the perspective from looking over the shield, completely changes how you think about these objects. The difference between life and death in the Bronze Age.
