The Lunula

Bronze age metalworkers were amazing craftsmen. The skills that they acquired with primitive tools would challenge today’s jewellers. The Lunula is an early piece of Bronze age jewellery, worn on the neck. It was made from gold that was found in the streams of the Wicklow hills. Nuggets of gold were melted together, flattened and cut into half moon shapes. They were then decorated by a technique called incision, which involves cutting into the design from the front (like engraving). The designs were on the horns (the parts worn closest to the back of the neck). At the ends of the horns the lunula has two paddles. These are twisted pieces of flat metal whose function was to secure the lunula on the neck. Lunulae continued to be made without any change in design for about 500 years. The word lunula means little moon.