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suggesting that they had been rolled up at some point. One Irish example, from
Ballinagroun, has had its original Classical engraved decoration beaten over to erase it (not quite successfully), and then a new Unaccomplished scheme added (see below for these classifications). This and the fact that it had been folded over several times suggest that it had been in use for a long time before it was deposited. The first two examples illustrated show roughly the range of widths of the lowest part of the lunula that is found. Finds in graves are rare, perhaps suggesting they were regarded as clan or group property rather than personal possessions, and though some were found in bogs, perhaps suggesting ritual deposits, more were found on higher ground, often under standing stones.
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82:. They are normally flat and thin, with roundish spatulate terminals that are often twisted to 45 to 90 degrees from the plane of the body. Gold lunulae fall into three distinct groups, termed Classical, Unaccomplished and Provincial by archaeologists. Most have been found in Ireland, but there are moderate numbers in other parts of Europe as well, from Great Britain to areas of the continent fairly near the Atlantic coasts. Although no lunula has been directly dated, from associations with other artefacts it is thought they were being made sometime in the period between 2400 and 2000 BC; a wooden box associated with one Irish find has recently given a
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178:) in the remains of a box with some sheet gold and a rod of gold. The rod had its terminals hammered flat in the manner of the lunulae. From this it is thought that Lunulae were made by hammering a rod of gold flat so it became sheet-like and fitted the desired shape. Decoration was then applied by impressing designs with a stylus. The stylus used often leaves tell-tale impressions on the surface of the gold and it is thought that all the lunulae from Kerivoa, and another two from Saint-Potan,
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with the 12 Unaccomplished averaging 40 gm. Finds of
Classical lunulae are concentrated in the north of Ireland, probably near the sources of gold, with Unaccomplished find spots mostly forming a "peripheral border" around this area. A few Classical lunulae have been found on the north Cornish coast and in southern Scotland.
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Classical, perhaps all made in
Ireland, on average the widest, heaviest and also thinnest group. They are thin enough to be flexible when worn, and for the incised decoration to appear as relief on their underside. One aspect of the skill with which they are made is the variation in thickness across
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It used to be thought that these groups were produced in chronological sequence, but this is now much less certain, although the
Ballinagroun lunula does show Unaccomplished decoration replacing Classical when it was reworked. In one large sample of 39 lunulae, the 19 Classical averaged 54 grams,
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Provincial, so named as all except one example were found outside
Ireland. Thicker and more rigid, they were probably all or mostly made outside Ireland. Their decoration can be more varied, and is divided into two groups: "dot-line", found in Scotland and Wales, and "linear", found in Cornwall,
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Of the more than a hundred gold lunulae known from
Western Europe, more than eighty are from Ireland; it is possible they were all the work of a handful of expert goldsmiths, though the three groups are presumed to have had different creators. Several examples have a heavily crinkled appearance
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from roughly the same period, using geometrical patterns made up of straight lines, with zig-zags and criss-cross patterns, and many different axes of symmetry. The curving edges of the lunula are generally followed by curving border-lines, often with decoration between them. The decoration is
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surfaced in
Ireland; it had actually been discovered in 1945 when cutting peat, but kept hidden. The hoard, including a lunula of the Classical type, is now in the National Museum of Ireland.
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Belgium and north
Germany, as well as the Irish example. The northern coast of France has both types. Punches, not otherwise used in lunulae, are used for the dots in "dot-line" types.
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style, although it lacks the fastening at the back and has holes that are presumably for fixing it to a surface. It has been suggested it fitted around the pole of a
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were all made with the same tool. This suggests that all five lunulae were the work of one craftsperson and the contents of the
Kerivoa box their tools of trade.
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typically most dense at the tips and edges, and the broad lower central area is often undecorated between the borders. The decoration also resembles that on
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597:, an exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Gold lunula (cat. no. 2)
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Unaccomplished, similar in their range of design motifs, but narrower and less skillfully executed; a small number are undecorated. All Irish.
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has recorded three incomplete finds in
England in recent years, in 2008, 2012 and 2014, the last only missing one terminal. In 2009 the
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Cahill, 277, dates "CalBC (at 95% probability)"; 276–278 discuss the dating of Irish lunulae, without reaching very firm conclusions.
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describe the (Irish) Blessington lunula (illustrated) as "Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, 2400BC-2000BC (circa)",
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the piece, with the inner edge often three times thicker than the middle and the outer edge twice as thick.
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John Windele's golden legacy—prehistoric and later gold ornaments from Co. Cork and Co. Waterford
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of thin ribbed gold, some with round discs at the side, of which 9 examples survive, 7 in the
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51:, Ireland, Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age, c. 2400BC – 2000BC, Classical group
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Needham, S. 1996. "Chronology and Periodisation in the British Bronze Age" in
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Taylor, J.J. 1968. "Early Bronze Age Gold Neck-Rings in Western Europe" in
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necklace, collar, or pectoral shaped like a crescent moon. Most are from
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The Roscommon Lunula – Gold Lunula and discs found in Roscommon, Ireland
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of about 200 BC should perhaps be considered as flattened and widened
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586:, video lecture by Dr. Mary Cahill, NMS Archaeology Conference 2022
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578:"Early Bronze Age Technology and Trade: The Evidence of Irish Gold"
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spacer necklaces, which are thought to be slightly later in date.
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Lunulae were probably replaced as neck ornaments firstly by gold
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lake deposit (200 BC – 100 AD) has an embossed medallion with a
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Most gold lunulae have decorative patterns very much resembling
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Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities
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Gold lunulae have been classified into groups as follows:
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Emerick, Carolyn; Authors, Various (28 February 2018).
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Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age necklace or collar
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Three Provincial lunulae were discovered in Kerivoa,
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Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D.
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National Museum of Wales, "Crescentic-shaped plaque"
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The known corpus continues to expand slowly. The UK
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97:, Provincial, linear group. 3rd millennium BC.
556:Wallace, Patrick F., O'Floinn, Raghnall eds.
525:Taylor, J.J. 1970. "Lunulae Reconsidered" in
338:Taylor, 1980, 33; illustrated at Wallace 2:21
109:Provincial "dot-line" lunula from Kerivoa in
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546:. Galway: Galway University Press, 1998.
534:Bronze Age Goldwork of the British Isles
503:, Vol. 106C, (2006), pp. 219–337,
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560:, 2002, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin,
544:The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland
527:Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
520:Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society
501:Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
220:The shape is sometimes found into the
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536:, 1980, Cambridge University Press,
477:Stolen treasure: The Coggalbeg Hoard
464:Portable Antiquities Scheme Database
377:Wallace, 50; Taylor 1980, 27 onwards
451:"Europa Sun Issue 3: February 2018"
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368:Wallace, 49–50; Taylor 1980, 28ff
66:) was a distinctive type of late
580:, By Joan J. Taylor, Penn Museum
93:Gold lunula from Schulenburg,
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616:Archaeological artefact types
529:36, pp. 38–81, also in
262:Portable Antiquities Scheme
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212:Lusitanian silver lunula,
203:National Museum of Ireland
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466:, accessed 23 March 2015
232:-based design in Celtic
30:Not to be confused with
428:Wallace, 88–89; 3:19–25
174:(Kerivoa-en-Bourbriac,
86:range of 2460–2040 BC.
74:, and—most often—early
532:Taylor, Joan J. 1980,
479:". Irish Archaeology;
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621:Archaeology in Europe
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611:Ancient art in metal
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483:- the breaking story
651:Prehistoric Ireland
278:Bell Beaker culture
80:Prehistoric Ireland
590:The Penwith Lunula
584:Looking at lunulae
512:Acta Archaeologica
398:Waddell, 1998, 135
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84:radiocarbon dating
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631:Bronze Age Europe
552:978-1-8698-5739-4
311:Needham 1996, 124
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18:Gold lunulae
347:Wallace, 60
329:Wallace, 49
57:gold lunula
49:Blessington
605:Categories
490:References
216:(Portugal)
76:Bronze Age
646:Necklaces
641:Irish art
68:Neolithic
272:See also
246:Portugal
230:triskele
222:Iron Age
188:Cornwall
180:Brittany
172:Brittany
160:Scotland
134:Typology
113:, France
111:Brittany
301:webpage
242:Coimbra
238:chariot
234:La Tène
199:gorgets
95:Germany
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184:Harlyn
505:JSTOR
284:Notes
250:torcs
195:torcs
186:Bay,
124:amber
32:Roman
562:ISBN
548:ISBN
295:The
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126:and
34:and
244:in
128:jet
61:pl.
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