Gleninsheen gorget

Gleninsheen gorget
Gleninsheen gorget
Materialgold
Sizewidth 31.4cm
Created800–700 BC
DiscoveredJanuary 1930
Gleninsheen, County Clare, Ireland
Present locationNational Museum of Ireland, Dublin

The Gleninsheen gorget (catalogued as NMI W21[1]) is a late Bronze Age collar, found in 1930 in the Gleninsheen region of the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Given that the gorget (a type of large collar or necklace) is made from gold and weighs 276 g (8.9 ozt) it must have been intended as an ornament for a high-ranking warrior.[2] Dated to c. 800–700 BC, it is one of the earliest examples of substantial Irish goldwork,[3] although the gorget may represent a development of the much earlier and lighter gold lunula form. Both are mainly found in Ireland.

When found, it had been placed in a rock cleft and, like a number of similar Irish gold collars, was folded in half, probably as part of a "decommissioning" process.[4] When this happened is unknown.

It is in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland (NMI), Kildare Street, Dublin, and appeared as number 12 in the 2011 semi-official list of a History of Ireland in 100 Objects.[5]

  1. ^ Cahill (2005), p. 26
  2. ^ Cahill (2002), p. 88
  3. ^ Although pieces of scrap gold found in Lough Gur, County Limerick, have been dated to c. 1400–1300 BC. See Cahill (2002), p. 87
  4. ^ Cahill (2002), p. 89
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference i100 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).