The Corrymuckloch Hoard

By Grace Woolmer-White, with contributions by Matthew G. Knight and Mark Hall

In May 1995, the tenants of Corrymuckloch Farm, near Amulree, made a remarkable discovery (PKHER: MPK9219). Walking across rough pasture to the north of the farm whilst looking for stones for a rockery, they spotted what was at first taken to be a helmet in an area of boggy ground. This later transpired to be a unique decorated vessel. Next to this was the tip of a bronze sword, and about a metre away were three bronze socketed axeheads. The tenants took these finds to Perth and Museum and Art Gallery where the significance of their discovery was recognised: they were of Late Bronze Age date (c.950-800 BC) and together, they indicated a hoard.

Location map showing A) the location of the find spot, B) the distribution of monuments in the local environs, and C) the location of machine trenches in relation to the drainage ditches (drawing by Alan Braby, used with kind permission)

The National Museums of Scotland were informed, and shortly afterwards, a site visit was made by Mark Hall, Trevor Cowie and Richard Tipping to assess the findspot and its potential for further finds and archaeological deposits. Metal-detecting during this site visit discovered two further fragments of the sword blade. All three sword fragments refit but represent an incomplete sword.

The bronze objects were recovered from an area of boggy ground, within a peat basin consistently 1.4-1.5 deep, which had formed in a shallow valley of an un-named burn. In the previous spring, a number of drainage ditches had been excavated to improve the drainage; the peat had been removed in sections by a mechanical excavator, and from what was known about the method of excavation, the metalwork was likely to have come from the lower part of the peat.

There was no sign of recent damage on the metalwork suggesting that the whole group had been removed together within the excavator’s bucket, and then spread out as the machine emptied this. The metalwork had then weathered out of this bank of upcast peat over the course of the following year.

Although the exact findspot of the hoard could not be relocated and its original context was disturbed, further fieldwork was carried out to reveal any deposits or features within the area of the findspots. Both sides of the drainage ditch were stripped, but nothing of archaeological significance was discovered. A broader survey of the surrounding field was more fruitful however, revealing a busier landscape than previously recorded, with cairns, cup marked stones and hut circles demonstrating prehistoric occupation nearby, and long houses, field systems, cultivation remains and quarries for the Wade Road indicating medieval and later activity.

The hoard itself comprised five objects:

  1. A complete handled vessel, initially thought to be a helmet by the finders. This comprised a copper-alloy bowl with a curved, tanged handle, fitted with a separate spool-like fitting at its end. It was adorned with incised hatched triangular motifs, chevrons and parallel lines around the rim, outer bowl and upper handle, and a herringbone pattern on the lower side of the handle which flowed into the decoration on the bowl’s rim. The decoration all appeared to be of the same technique and incised with the same tool. The vessel is unique, and no other similar vessels known in Scotland. It was likely to have been used as a ladle, perhaps in association with beaten bronze cauldrons, example of which are known from the Scottish Late Bronze Age (X.1996.267.1).
  2. A Late Bronze Age leaf-shaped sword, represented by three refitting fragments from the lower portion of the blade, including its tip. The edges of the sword have been hammered though signs of sharpening are unclear. The edges have bowed and bent in places, which may be related to use, and the tip is bent and cracked. Each of the pieces is broken with roughly straight, sharp breaks; this fragmentation happened in antiquity and the sword was deliberately broken before it was deposited. The rest of the sword, including the hilt, is missing and may not have been deposited with the hoard (X.1996.267.5; X.1996.267.6; X.1996.267.7).
  3. – 5. Three socketed axeheads of Late Bronze Age date. Each is of a different type, representative of some of the different forms of axeheads dating from this period across Scotland. These would have been hafted on a wooden haft and used for woodworking or agricultural work. At least two of the axeheads appear to have been worked after casting, though the third may be unfinished (X.1996.267.2; X.1996.267.3X.1996.267.4).
The three socketed axeheads and fragments of sword from Corrymuckloch © National Museums Scotland

John Coles (1960) listed more than 70 Late Bronze Age hoards from Scotland, with many more discovered since his corpus; the Corrymuckloch hoard shares several characteristics typical of hoards from this period. The objects appear to have been deposited together, within a natural setting of boggy ground braided by small water courses and at least one of the items was broken and deliberately deposited in this state. This, along with the unique decorated vessel and the watery location, suggests that the intention behind the burial of this hoard was not practical, but ritualistic with no intention of retrieval. The prehistoric monuments recorded during the rapid survey of the surrounding also indicate that the hoard and the bog it was buried in was not an isolated location, but probably within a Bronze Age landscape, and certainly within a wider prehistoric setting.

The Corrymuckloch vessel © National Museums Scotland
Decoration on the handle of the Corrymuckloch vessel © National Museums Scotland

Only two other Late Bronze Age deposits of groups of metalwork are currently recorded within Perth and Kinross, the others from Clockmaden Farm in 1979, and Kinnesswood in 2007-9. The Clockmaden hoard was recovered from a spring and comprised four complete bracelets/armlets and fragments of at least six others, as well as a ring, a socketed axehead, a ferrule and a bronze strip (Cowie & Reid 1986, 80-87). The Kinnesswood group of metalwork was found during metal-detecting on multiple occasions and included complete and incomplete axeheads, socketed gouges, a knife fragment, a fragmented ferrule and a complete but deliberately bent and fragmented sword (Cowie & Hall 2009). This could be a dispersed hoard, or represent a depositional landscape during the Late Bronze Age. Both assemblages share some elements with Corrymuckloch though further research into the character of these other two hoards would be beneficial to recontextualise the Corrymuckloch hoard and provide a better understanding of the nature of the practice within this region of Scotland. This could usefully extend to re-examining other deposits in wet places, including the river Tay, where some of the discoveries may represent dispersed hoards (Cowie & Hall 2001). Further research could also be undertaken on the Corrymuckloch hoard itself, and the area it came from. Regardless, it remains the best studied Late Bronze Age hoard discovered within Perth and Kinross.

The Corrymuckloch hoard was claimed by Treasure Trove and is held with the collection of the National Museums of Scotland under accession number X.1996.267.1-7. The handled vessel is on display within the Early People gallery. Information presented here is largely derived from the article by Cowie et al. (1996).


References

Coles, JM 1960 ‘Scottish Late Bronze Age metalwork: Typology, distributions and chronology’ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1959-60), 93: 16–134.

Cowie, T, Hall, M, O’Connor, B and Tipping, R 1996 ‘The Late Bronze Age hoard from Corrymuckloch, near Amulree, Perthshire: an interim report’ Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal 2, 60-69.

Cowie, T and Hall, MA 2001 ‘Late Bronze Age metalworks from Scottish rivers: a rediscovered sword from the river Forth near Canbus, Clackmannanshire, in its context’ Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal 7, 1–16.

Cowie, T and Hall, MA 2009 ‘Kinnesswood Metal detector finds’ Discovery and Excavation in Scotland (New Ser.) 10, 158.

Cowie, T and Reid, A 1986 ‘Some recent finds of Bronze-Age metalwork from Perthshire’ Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 116, 69–88.

Hall, M and Cowie, T 1995 ‘Corrymuckloch (Fowlis Wester parish) Bronze Age hoar‘ Discovery and Excavation in Scotland 1995, 99-100.