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An amateur metal detectorist in England has unearthed a macabre piece of history: an 18th-century gold band with an inlaid enamel skull decoration.
The ring, which was found in a field in Norfolk on England's east coast, is linked to a member of the British nobility whose name and date of death are inscribed on the inside of the golden band.
"I knew this was something very special and I did a bit of a dance," detectorist Malcom Weale told BBC. Weale found the ring in August, and it has already been studied through the U.K.'s Portable Antiquities Scheme by experts at the British Museum.
The gold ring has a thick, D-shaped cross-section, and its flat interior includes the hand-inscribed phrase "B.G. Bart. ob: 10. Oct: 1723. aet: 56." According to the British Museum, this Latin inscription means "B.G. Baronet, died 10 October 1723, aged 56," which suggests it was made to memorialize Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy, 3rd Baronet of Harling and a member of the British nobility, who died in a hunting accident.
On the ring's exterior, an oval depression has been filled with jewelry enamel, which is made by fusing powdered glass or ceramic of different colors at a high temperature. Against the grayish background, black spots and lines have been used to create a squashed-looking skull.
Based on the British Museum's measurements, the Gawdy ring is roughly a U.S. size 6 or 7 (U.K. size L to N), meaning that it might have been made for a woman or a teenager. However, historical records suggest that Sir Bassingbourne Gawdy died unmarried and that his hereditary title went extinct, so it is unclear who commissioned or wore the band to mourn the loss.
A series of pictures of the inside of the Gawdy band displaying the inscription.
Mourning bands were common in England from the 16th century through the Victorian era and are often known by the Latin phrase "memento mori" or "remember that you will die." Other forms of popular mourning jewelry included pendants, lockets and brooches with tiny human skulls and the name of the deceased.
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But the Gawdy band is actually a late example with an unusual skull, according to the British Museum. Instead of an engraved skull filled with enamel, the Gawdy ring has a large depression enamelled in two colors.
The maker's mark on the ring appears to read TU but does not shed further light on the artisan who designed the band.
Since the ring is made of gold and is over 300 years old, it falls under the U.K.'s Treasure Act of 1996. This means that a museum may acquire the ring, and the finder and landowner may share in any reward for turning it in.
"It's very rare to put a name to anything you find,” Weale said. “But I knew this was something very special."
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Kristina Killgrove is a staff writer at Live Science with a focus on archaeology and paleoanthropology news. Her articles have also appeared in venues such as Forbes, Smithsonian, and Mental Floss. Kristina holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology and an M.A. in classical archaeology from the University of North Carolina, as well as a B.A. in Latin from the University of Virginia, and she was formerly a university professor and researcher. She has received awards from the Society for American Archaeology and the American Anthropological Association for her science writing.
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