Milton Keynes Bronze Age Hoard

Acquisition of the so-called Milton Keynes 'Pot of Gold', a 3,000-year-old group of impressive gold neck rings and bracelets that was found in an area that had previously produced little Bronze Age metalwork. The group consists of two decorated gold neckrings and three gold bracelets, dated to around 1150-800 BC. They were discovered by metal detectorists at Monkston Park, Milton Keynes. The hoard is outstanding because of its weight (over 2kg) and unusual combination of different styles of ornament, linking it to Bronze Age cultures of the Atlantic seaboard as far south as the Iberian Peninsula. This was the first unequivocal association between a gold hoard and pottery for the British Middle to late Bronze Age and is of execptional importance for ehlping to synchronise the chronology of gold metalwork, which normally occurs in isolation, with the broader picture of social and economic development.