ROSEMARKIE, SCOTLAND—According to a BBC News report, examination of a cache of nine bronze bracelets and necklaces buried some 3,000 years ago has determined that they had been tied together with fibrous cords. The cache was unearthed at a Bronze Age village site on the south coast of Scotland’s Black Isle peninsula. “While there are other examples of hoards where it has been postulated that items were bound together due to their positioning, the vegetation in the Rosemarkie hoard has survived for approximately 3,000 years, proving that these artifacts were held together,” said archaeologist Rachel Buckley of GUARD Archaeology Ltd. Team member Iraia Arabaolaza added that the hoard appears to have been buried in a shallow pit that had been quickly backfilled. “It may be that it was intended as temporary storage with the intention of recovering the hoard at some stage,” she explained. The surrounding settlement may have been abandoned at the same time, she concluded. To read about a ninth-century cache of Viking silver and Anglo-Saxon heirlooms, go to "Secrets of Scotland's Viking Age Hoard."
