Beaker age bracers in England: sources, function and use

Ann Woodward1 , John Hunter1 , Rob Ixer2 , Fiona Roe3 , Philip J. Potts4 , Peter C. Webb4 , John S. Watson4 & Michael C. Jones5
The authors review the signicance of bracers by undertaking a detailed examination of their morphology, fragmentation, manufacture and wear. The results have a number of implications regarding their use and value and this is supported by the use of petrographic and geochemical analyses which suggest discrete patterns of raw material acquisition. A description of the technical methodology and appropriate data tables are available at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward. Keywords: bracer, Beaker, Britain, use wear, petrography, geochemistry

Introduction
Bracers are thin pieces of ne-grained stone, usually rectangular, and perforated at their narrow ends. The number of perforations present is usually two (one at each end) or four, although in some cases the number reaches 12 or 18. They occur in Early Bronze Age burials in many parts of Europe and are usually considered to be archers wristguards or bracers (the term adopted here). The stone plate would have been attached to the inner face of the lower arm holding the bow to protect the arm from the rebounding string. Similar devices, usually of leather or plastic, are used in modern archery (Figure 1). Some early observers viewed these perforated stone plates as ornaments or for purposes other than bracers (e.g. Thurnam 1871: 428-30; Evans 1897: Ch. 19). Ingram (1867) was the rst to favour the bracer interpretation, having noted one buried example in situ between the bones of the lower left arm. However, detailed study of British examples was not undertaken until the 1950s and 1960s when Atkinson prepared a preliminary list and typological scheme (see Clarke 1970: 570). This formed the basis for a list of British examples subsequently published by Harbison (1976: 28-31). Since then a few individual bracers have been described in detail (e.g. Robertson Mackay 1980; Whittle et al. 1992) but the only overall consideration of the class, such as that undertaken by Sangmeister (1964, 1974) for the European material, has been Harbisons (1976) study of Irish examples.

1 2 3 4 5

Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK Department of Geology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK Blackthorn Cottage, Vicarage Lane, Hillesley, Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire GL12 7RA, UK Department of Earth Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK Department of Statistics, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK

Received: 9 March 2005; Accepted: 14 October 2005; Revised: 1 December 2005 antiquity 80 (2006): 530543

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Figure 1. Photograph showing modern archery wristguard or bracer.

Figure 2. Representative range of bracer types and lithologies studied, from left to right: (a) Calne, Wiltshire (C1); (b) Drifeld,Yorkshire (C1); (c) Hemp Knoll, Wiltshire (C1); (d) Barnack, Cambridgeshire (C3); (e) Sittingbourne, Kent (B1); (f ) Sturry, Kent (B1); (g) Sewell, Bedfordshire (B2); (h) Brandon, Suffolk (B3); (i) Mildenhall, Cambridgeshire (B2).

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However, no concerted effort has been made to consider the other British bracers, or the wider archaeological context. This paper is offered as a rst step towards such a general synthesis; it evaluates a selected corpus of English and Scottish bracers according to context and morphology, and uses microscopic and analytical techniques. The project represents part of a wider pilot study examining ritual and dress equipment from British Early Bronze Age graves in order to reconsider the signicance of burial deposits, particularly with regard to religious acts and ceremonies. Eighteen bracers were kindly made available from the British Museum (12), the Devizes Museum (5) and the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (1). These were viewed and analysed along with six more from recent unpublished excavations, and two more which had recently been published, giving a total of 26. Key typological and locational aspects of these bracers are summarised in Table 1 (http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). This sample comprises slightly less than half of the number of bracers currently known from England and Wales (see list in Table 2 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward).

Typology and associations

The typology originally devised by Atkinson, which has served the test of time, divides the British bracers into three basic groups: rounded bracers with two perforations (Type A), rectangular examples with two, four or more perforations (Type B), and more complex items (Type C) which are waisted in shape, have four perforations and display a strongly concavo-convex prole. Types B and C are illustrated in Figure 2, and the bracer illustrated in Figure 4b belongs to Type A. There are also subdivisions of these groups (see Tables 1 and 2 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). Of the 58 English bracers known, 28 were found in association with other archaeological material (see Table 3 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). Of these groups, 16 included Beakers of known type, and two more were found with Drinking Cups: a term used by Colt Hoare (1812) which usually refers to a Beaker vessel. In only one case is any other form of pottery recorded: a Secondary Series Collared Urn found with the bracer from Bowerham Barracks, Lancashire (Longworth 1984: 219 and pl.84c). The next most commonly occurring item found with bracers is a bronze (or copper) dagger; these occur with 11 bracers, and always, except in one case (Sittingbourne, Kent) in groups where a Beaker is also present. The other classes of material that occur fairly commonly with bracers are int arrowheads, and bone toggles or belt rings; both types occur seven times, but they only occur together in two groups (Wellington Quarry, Herefordshire and Thomas Hardye School, Dorset). In a general consideration of the European Beaker material, Harrison noted that there was no consistent set of associations between arrowheads and bracers (1980: 53). However, Sangmeisters tabulations indicate that in one of his groups (the East Group), 17 out of 36 grave assemblages contained bracers in association with int arrowheads (1974: table 6a). The equivalent statistic for England and Scotland is 11 groups out of a total of 38. The position of the bracer in the grave was recorded in 13 instances. In eight cases a possibly functional location on the lower arm was evident (ve left and three right), but ve were found in other positions, three of them in caches of specially selected items.
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Chronology
In terms of the conventional Beaker typologies, as simplied by Case (1977), the current study has shown that Early Beakers occur mainly with bracers of Type A and B. Middle style Beakers occur most often with Type B bracers, along with two examples of Type C. Both of these Type C bracers belong to an arched subgroup (C1) and are more commonly found with late style Beakers, along with a few bracers of Types A and B. The few available radiocarbon dates for Beaker burials with bracers in England are relatively early, all falling before, or during, the ssion horizon of 2250-2150 cal BC, as recently dened by Needham (2005). These associations are with Beakers of Needhams Low-Carinated (LC) and Tall Mid-Carinated (TMC) forms. At the time of writing, only two dates for C1 bracers are known, both associated with Beakers of developed form. The date for Ferrybridge, Yorkshire occurs around the ssion horizon, while that for Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire is contemporary or a little later (Healy & Harding 2004: 188). In Scotland the date for an LC Beaker found with a Type A bracer falls before this horizon, but so also does that for a C1 bracer associated with a developed Northern Beaker (Sheridan forthcoming). Thus none of the absolute dates obtained so far fall during the later currency of Beakers in Britain. In Ireland a different picture emerges with most bracers occurring as stray nds. Many are of the long and narrow two-perforations variety (Type A), and Harbison argued that they may have been associated with Food Vessel Bowls rather than Beakers (Harbison 1976: 7-10). He therefore concluded that the Irish bracers dated to the full Early Bronze Age. However subsequent absolute dating for the Food Vessel Bowl series has indicated that these ceramics were current between c . 2300 and 1900 cal BC, and thus were contemporary with the main oruit of Beakers (Needham 1996: g. 2 and 128).

Morphology and distribution

All items were examined using a binocular microscope (magnication 7 to 45) under a variety of oblique lighting conditions, and measured using plastic callipers. A dedicated pro forma was devised for recording (for headings see Table 1 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ projgall/woodward).

Size
Figure 3 shows the length and width measurements of the 26 bracers analysed in the study plus a further 12 for which published scale drawings could be located. It can be seen that Type A bracers, with one perforation at each end, are the narrowest examples, although they vary greatly in length. The widest possess six or more perforations and are a subgroup of Type B (B3), and the longest tend to be the complex arched bracers of subgroup C1. However, two of the latter are of medium length only. The very longest piece known belongs to Type B (subgroup B1). On the whole a subgroup of Type B (B2) tends to be of medium width and length, but a further subgroup of particularly short items is also apparent. Bracers of Type A, the most simple, and the subgroup C1, the most complex, have been found mainly in northern England. This pattern also extends to Scotland, where Type A
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Figure 3. Chart showing bracer dimensions.

bracers are particularly common. In southern England most bracers are of Type B relatively at pieces with two, four or more perforations.

Decoration
A group of wide rectangular bracers, mainly from eastern Europe (Sangmeisters Type A), often bear geometric incised decoration around their margins. The only piece from Britain which is decorated is a reworked bracer from Broadford Bay, Skye, which has a row of shallow circular pits along one end (Evans 1897: g. 353). However, three examples are embellished in a manner which is totally unknown on the continent, with domed caps of gold inserted above the rivets contained in the perforated holes. These are the subgroup C1 bracers from Drifeld, Yorkshire (Figure 2b) and Culduthel Mains, Inverness-shire and the nearly at bracer with 18 perforations from Barnack, Cambridgeshire (Figures 2d and 4a).

Colour
In terms of colour, the British bracers display a pattern which contrasts markedly with European parallels. In Europe bracers tend to be either red or grey in tone (see Table 4 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). By contrast, in the British Isles red bracers, which form such an important component of the continental material, and especially the complex concavo-convex sectioned examples of Sangmeister classes A and B, are present only in Ireland, with the important addition of one of the bracers from the Amesbury Archer burial in southern England. In England, Wales and Scotland the predominant colour is grey, including blue/grey or green/grey variations. There are a few items which are black
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Figure 4. Details of bracers: (a) Barnack, Cambridgeshire. Gold caps showing dents (also detail of Langdale lithology); (b) Ireland example showing close-up of back illustrating boring, striations and jasper lithology; (c) Hemp Knoll, Wiltshire. Close-up of scoring for thong; (d) Drifeld, Yorkshire. Back, showing copper rivets (behind the gold) and striations.

in colour, but the other distinctive colour represented is mid to dark green (see Table 1 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). There is a marked tendency for the British bracers of Type A and Type B to be grey or grey/blue in colour, while the distinctive arched Type C pieces are often mid to dark green. In Ireland the prominent group of red bracers mentioned above is accompanied by other items which are mainly grey, or black, in colour (see Harbison 1976: Appendix C).
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Fragmentation
It has been suggested that objects that occur in grave assemblages in a fragmentary state may have been pieces from valuable items that functioned as heirlooms or relics (Woodward 2002). In order to study this phenomenon it is necessary to consider the degree of breakage, and also to investigate whether the breaks are ancient or may have occurred either in the soil, at the time of excavation, or during their subsequent curation in museum collections. Of the 26 bracers studied during the pilot programme, nine (35 per cent) were found to be complete. A further 11 (42 per cent) were estimated to be 95 to 99 per cent complete. Most of these had one corner missing. None appeared to have broken during manufacture, so this kind of damage probably had occurred during use. In one case (Barnack, Cambridgeshire) the corner fragment was present in the burial and the bracer may have fractured due to pressure within the grave. Other forms of damage included chips on margins or on the back surface. In two further cases, rather more of the bracer was missing (Aldbourne, Wiltshire and Cotswold Community, Gloucestershire). Finally there were two much smaller fragments, representing c . 30 per cent or less of the original bracer, from Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire and Wellington Quarry, Herefordshire. All bracers exhibiting major damage were of at Type B, and nearly all the examples of this type displayed ancient damage of varying kinds. In contrast, the three Type A bracers studied were all complete and the Type C items showed minor damage, usually at one corner only. The incidence therefore of fragments and broken bracers is rather high. In most cases close microscopic inspection indicated that the breaks were indeed ancient, and it can therefore be argued that these bracers were not in working condition when they were placed in the grave; thus they may have functioned as heirlooms or played some symbolic role. Only two breaks (Calne, Wiltshire and Gravelly Guy, Oxfordshire) revealed a darker, unweathered, and possibly more recent fracture. Of 13 bracers from Scotland studied by one of the authors (AW) at the National Museum of Scotland and the Marischal Museum, Aberdeen in 2004, four were found to be complete and a further four had ancient chips, usually in corner locations. Two (from Old Rayne, Aberdeenshire, and Lomond Hills, Fife) were present as fragments and one piece appeared to have been reworked from approximately half of a former bracer (Broadford Bay, Skye, see Evans 1897: g. 353). Harbison was able to record that many of the bracers from Ireland were also broken (1976: 4). Almost one third of the items studied by him were broken across the middle and there were many instances of broken corners. Also, as in Britain, a few fragmented examples had been reworked to form a new, smaller bracer.

Manufacture
Many of the 26 British bracers studied present evidence for methods of manufacture: various striations, residual coarse and ne polishing marks and, occasionally, marks created during the drilling of perforations. The front face was usually polished to a high degree of nish, but on the rear face striations commonly survive (see also Table 1 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). Most of the striations are longitudinal (12 examples), but diagonal marks are almost as common (11 occurrences). Transverse striations, however, are more rarely represented (six examples, e.g. Irish jasper, Figure 4b).
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Where striations have survived on the front faces they tend to be located in transverse or diagonal positions. The direction of striations on bracers of Type B is variable but with a preference for diagonal positioning. However there is a marked tendency for Type A bracers to display diagonal striations and for those of Type C to be characterised by strong longitudinal striations, located on the rear face (e.g. Drifeld, Yorkshire, Figure 4d). In Scotland, Type A bracers show a more variable pattern of striations, but the examples of both Types B and C are dominated by the occurrence of longitudinal striations, again mainly on the rear face. The perforations were drilled rst from the rear, then sometimes more shallowly from the front to create hourglass perforations and a neater front face. In a signicant number of bracers extensive natural blemishes could not be fully eradicated; these usually occur on the rear face (but see exceptionally Roundway, Wiltshire, Table 1 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). It is likely that perforations were made using a simple form of bow drill; the shaft diameter can be indicated from circular grooves on the faces of bracers from Hemp Knoll, Wiltshire and Ferrybridge, Yorkshire. Perforations were presumably intended to allow narrow leather thongs or sinews to attach the bracer to the forearm. In the Hemp Knoll example (Figure 4c) a shallow groove was chased between the perforations at either end to allow the thong to lie ush to the surface of the bracer. The need for attachment clearly raises issues of function regarding those bracers where the perforations have been sealed with gold-capped mounts and appear to be of little practical value (see Figure 4a).

Wear
Owing to the hardness of the rocks employed, it is very difcult to recognise signs of wear on the bracers, even under magnication. However, some preliminary observations can be offered. Of the 24 English pieces studied, eleven appeared to be unworn (some of them apparently unused), a further ten showed slight wear and three seemed worn. In one case (Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire) the bracer had been used after breakage, and in two cases severely broken pieces were cut down to form bracers of smaller size (Aldbourne, Wiltshire and Broadford Bay, Skye). Thus some fragments of bracers were regarded as valuables, not only as small heirlooms which were deposited in graves (Wellington Quarry, Herefordshire and Cotswold Community, Gloucestershire) but also as raw material for further bracers, possibly of a form or size that would effectively render them impracticable for archery purpose. Ten of the unworn pieces were studied. Five of these had one corner missing or severely chipped. It may be that these cases of damage had occurred during manufacture although, owing to the general high standard of craftsmanship displayed, this seems unlikely, and why would breakage always occur when the nal hole was being drilled? Another possibility is that one corner was deliberately removed, as a ritual action, in order to disable the artefact prior to its deposition in the grave. Three of the green bracers, two of them of Type C, have gold caps covering the perforations. The English examples (Drifeld, Yorkshire, and Barnack, Cambridgeshire, Figures 2b and 4a respectively) were studied under the microscope. In both cases the gold
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showed signs of original and/or secondary burnishing, and further scratches, cracks and irregular denting appeared to be indicative of use.

Petrography
All 26 pieces were studied petrographically using a standard 10 hand lens/low power binocular microscope and without knowledge of their geochemistry. Individual identiers are denoted in parentheses. The methodology can be found in the technical note at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward. Microscopic examination demonstrated that the ve arched bracers (i.e. of concavoconvex section) appear to form a petrographically coherent group comprising examples from Barnack, Cambridgeshire (3), Ferrybridge, Yorkshire (21), Drifeld, Yorkshire (8), Tring, Hertfordshire (16) and Hemp Knoll, Wiltshire (2). Four of them are of arched Type C. These are greenish-grey (5G 4/1 5G 6/1), ne-grained, metavolcaniclastics characterised by a sub-conchoidal to sub-hackly fracture, laminae, small rock clasts and oxidised pyrite porphyroblasts. The bracer from Calne, Wiltshire shares some macroscopic features with these and may be an outlying member of the same group or has been made from a very similar lithology. Petrographic comparison with the polished stone axes from the English Lake District dened as Group VI by the Implement Petrology Group (Keiller et al. 1941), and rocks collected from Langdale suggests that both they and the arched bracers share a common lithological origin. The majority of the at bracers can also be seen to form a loosely dened group, although sharing different petrographical features. They are ne-grained, most are within the colour range bluish-grey (5B 7/1) to greenish-grey (5GY 6/1), show a pronounced planar foliation with at surfaces parallel to this main foliation and contain green to browngreen mottling and/or the presence of up to 12mm diameter chlorite porphyroblasts and/or chlorite/green amphibole veining. These rocks were identied as being thermally metamorphosed metasediments and more especially spotted slates/hornfels. Hornfels is not a common rock-type within England and Wales but exposures are known surrounding the granite outcrops of Devon and Cornwall where Devonian-Lower Carboniferous sediments have been baked by the Cornubian batholith. Two ne-grained, black bracers, from the Amesbury Archer burial, Wiltshire (23) and from Stonehenge, Wiltshire (26) are identied as metamudstones/slates. Their grain-size difference suggests they are from different rocks. Dark metamudstones/slates are common in Britain and hence provenancing is difcult. However, the nearest suitable rocks to the nd spots include regionally metamorphosed Lower Carboniferous rocks of Devon and a number of Palaeozoic rocks from South Wales. Other areas would include much of central Wales and the English Lake District. The red Amesbury Archer bracer (22) is probably made from a banded mudstone and may be less metamorphosed than other at bracer lithologies. Red mudstones are abundant and widespread but the nearest outcrops to the nd spot are in the Devonian and Permo-Triassic sequences of Cornubia and Lower Palaeozoic rocks of South Wales. It may have been an attempt to imitate the red jaspers known to crop out in Galway and Mayo and which provide a conspicuous proportion of the Irish bracers (see Harbison 1976: Appendix C).
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Figure 5. Principal components plot for bracer dataset. The main groups discussed in the text are ringed: spotted slatetype bracers to the left; Langdale tuff-type bracers to the right. The numbered bracers are identied in Table 1 (http:// www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward).

Geochemical analysis
The material was also analysed using a Spectrace TN9000 portable X-ray uorescence (PXRF) spectrometer. A full discussion of the experimental methodology together with tabulation of the compositional data (Table 5) is available online at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/ projgall/woodward. The rst two principal components account for 69.5 per cent of the variation and the results are plotted in Figure 5. This reveals a group of 12 bracers with broadly similar compositional characteristics: low levels of K, Rb and Ba (some undetectable); moderately low Ti, Mn and Fe; and moderate levels of Ca, Sr and Zr. This group matches the grey bracers (spotted slates) minus Aldbourne (9) but plus the two probable spotted slate pieces. Most of the other artefact compositions appear to be less closely related, but some pairs are similar and there is a loose group of six bracers, which tends to be characterised by moderate levels of K, Ca, Ti, Fe, Sr, Zr and Ba, and moderately low Mn and Rb. These match the six green bracers described above. Furthermore, in terms of PC analysis, the comparative samples of Langdale volcanic tuff (two analyses of source rock; four analyses of IPC Group VI axes: Ixer et al. 2004, with additional data pers. comm. Williams-Thorpe) match more closely with the group of six bracers than most others. Comparative data for four Group VI Langdale axes (Ixer et al. 2004) were similarly matched. Some of the other bracers have compositional features in common, but do not form coherent groups. A plot of Sr/Ca against Mn/Fe has also been constructed (Figure 6). This plot was chosen as Sr substitutes for Ca, and Mn for Fe in rock forming minerals, and changes in these ratios may signify different mineral hosts and potentially different modes of origin for the
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Figure 6. Compositional plot of Mn/Fe ratio plotted against Sr/Ca ratio for bracers and comparative samples (numbered bracers are identied in Table 1 at http://www.antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/woodward). Distinguishing symbols: solid diamond = spotted slate-type bracers; open triangle = Langdale tuff-type bracers; open squares = other bracers; crosses = comparative Langdale-type samples.

rocks. The group of 12 are again distinct, but sample 9 (Aldbourne) also plots in the same place. This group precisely matches the set of grey bracers including the possible spotted slates. The remainder of the bracers are more scattered, but the other group of six recognised by PC analysis, i.e. sample nos 2, 3, 8, 10, 16 and 21 are clustered. The IPC Group VI axes and one of the two Langdale source samples also plot within that cluster, suggesting a signicant degree of comparability.

Discussion
This is the rst time that British bracers have been studied in any detail, and several important conclusions can be drawn. Firstly, there appears to be only a slight correlation between bracers and other buried archery equipment (arrowheads). Furthermore, an apparent disparity between the correlation of bracers and arrowheads in British as compared to continental graves suggests that archery may only have been incidental to the burial assemblage. Moreover, a greater correlation between bracers and Beakers and other prestigious items suggests that status or symbolic representation may be indicated. Bracers were clearly items of considerable quality. The rocks used were very hard, negrained and usually distinctively coloured, and great attention was paid to the physical appearance of the nal product, particularly the upper surface. Furthermore, many of the perforations were nished from the front, sometimes using a slightly smaller drill, giving the front surface a much greater degree of elegance. Overall the standard of workmanship was very high.
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When studied microscopically few of the bracers studied showed evidence of wear. Most appeared to be fresh in that they displayed little or no evidence of use, perhaps indicating rarity or heirloom status; bracer fragments or reworked pieces are known from graves across both Britain and Europe. This suggests that their value may have been symbolic rather than functional. The symbolic rather than functional value of bracers is particularly well illustrated by the occurrence of three items bearing gold-capped rivets within the perforations (Drifeld, Barnack Figures 2b and 2d, and Culduthel Mains, see Clarke et al. 1985: Pl 4.16). The provision of such upstanding embellishments would have precluded their use as bracers in archery, as the bow string could have caught on the rivet caps. In fact a Tudor tract on archery specically states that bracers should not be attached by rivets for this reason (Ascham 1985). The use of gold may testify to both status and wealth. All three examples occur on bracers which are effectively pristine, whereas the gold cappings show evidence of scratching and denting. This may have resulted from original or subsequent polishing, damage caused in the ground, or perhaps from use in a symbolic context. Of further interest is that these especially ne items were all made from a very specic rock of green hue (see below), several being formed in a strongly arched shape which might effectively preclude their use as a bracer in any practical sense. One of the most signicant ndings has been the clear grouping observed within the petrographic and geochemical data. Methodologically, (see also Ixer et al. 2004) there is a remarkable level of agreement when the results of the two techniques are compared. Independently, both techniques succeeded in classifying the bracer lithologies into two major groups: one containing six examples, and one containing 12 or 13 examples. Both methods established that seven bracers belonged to neither of the major groups. The group containing six examples can be identied as relating to the Great Langdale source, the Group VI rock used for axe head manufacture in the Neolithic period. Meanwhile it is interesting to note that the re-used bracer from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire also has been identied by David Williams as being made from Group VI (Healey & Harding 2004: 185). The possibility that these bracers might have been manufactured from Neolithic axe heads which had been discovered by chance, or curated as heirlooms, was considered, but many of these are worn down or broken, and so too small for reuse. Also, the bracers concerned appear to have been made from a particular facies of Langdale rock, containing visible oxidised pyrite porphyroblasts. The other, larger group of bracers belongs to a group of spotted slates/hornfelses, grey to blue in colour, and deriving possibly from a source in the south-western peninsula, whilst only ve were made from rock of diverse lithological type. It is of even further interest to note that the two main rock groupings can be correlated with morphological characteristics of the bracers themselves. Firstly, most of the arched types (C1) and the most elaborate of the at types (B3) were made from the green Langdale rock, whilst the bracers made from the spotted slates were all at items belonging to Type B. Secondly there is a strong correlation between rock type and the striations produced by the manufacturing process. Thus the Langdale bracers display very strong longitudinal striations on the rear face, while long, thin bracers of Type A and B more commonly bear diagonal striations. Finally, it is only arched bracers of Langdale rock that have rivets capped with gold studs. The process of rock selection may have embodied several factors both practical and cultural. It is clear that certain outcrops were targeted for colour (e.g. red jaspers, blacks or
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greens), but also for special qualities that certain outcrops were considered to have, perhaps through tradition or spiritual importance. Overall, this study has shown that bracers were signicant and valued items in the early part of the Early Bronze Age. Selection of material and quality of nish appear to have been paramount, and specic sources appear to have been favoured for exploitation. A study of bracers from the Czech Republic has reached some similar conclusions (Turek forthcoming and pers comm.). In Britain the extreme development of these extraordinary items is illustrated by the use of a specic facies of green Langdale volcanics, the manufacture of a series of very nely executed arched and elongated pieces and the employment of gold capped rivets. Bracers with gold caps are unknown in Europe, but there is a solid gold example with four bosses imitating large studs from Portugal (Harrison 1980: g. 96). Although the original function of the bracer may have belonged in the sphere of archery, this no longer seems a viable interpretation, although the status of the archer may remain symbolically embodied. Acknowledgements
The team is extremely grateful to the museum curators and unit ofcers who assisted in making bracers available for detailed study: Stuart Needham, Paul Robinson, Peter Saunders and Martin Wright, Alison Roberts, Alison Sheridan, Peter Cox, Leigh Allen, Carol Allen, Alan Lupton, Fraser Brown, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Roland Smith and Rachael Seager Smith. We are also pleased to thank the following who have discussed various aspects of the project or helped in various ways: John Barrett, Joanna Bruck, Vin Davis, Anthony Harding, Frances Healy, Stuart Needham, Graham Norrie, Stephen Shennan, Alison Sheridan and Olwen Williams-Thorpe. The work was carried out with a grant from the Leverhulme Trust and has been supported by the University of Birmingham.

References
Ascham, R. 1985. Toxophilus: The School of Shooting (1545). Edited by Giles. Manchester: The Simon Archery Foundation, Manchester Museum. Case, H.J. 1977. The Beaker Culture in Britain and Ireland, in R. Mercer (ed.) Beakers in Britain and Europe. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports Supplementary Series 26: 71-101. Clarke, D.L. 1970. Beaker Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Clarke, D.V., T.G. Cowie & A. Foxon (ed.). 1985. Symbols of Power at the Time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: HMSO. Colt Hoare, R. 1812. Ancient Wiltshire, Vol. 1. London. Evans, J. 1897. The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain. London: Longman. Harbison, P. 1976. Bracers and V-perforated Buttons. The Beaker and Food Vessel Cultures of Ireland. Archaeologia Atlantica Research Report 1. Bad Bramstedt, W. Germany: Moreland. Harrison, R.J. 1980. The Beaker Folk. London: Thames and Hudson.

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