The Hove Amber Cup: Bronze Age Artefact
The Hove Amber Cup is an extremely rare Bronze Age vessel carved from a single piece of Baltic amber about 3,500 years ago.
The beautifully designed cup is one of only two found in Britain; the other was in Dorset.
It was discovered in a great round barrow mound that was crudely excavated in 1856 in Hove, East Sussex.
Inside the burial mound, an oak coffin carved from a tree trunk was also discovered.
It contained bone fragments, a copper-alloy dagger, a whetstone, an axe-head, and the precious amber cup.
These grave goods are all more than 3,200 years old.
The cup, crafted from a single piece of Baltic amber, suggests early trade connections between England and the Baltic region.
The presence of such a unique and valuable item indicates that the Hove burial mound may have been the resting place of a highly significant individual.
The cup is part of the Brighton and Hove Museums’ collection and was loaned to the British Museum in 2010 for the major exhibition “The History of the World” in collaboration with the BBC.
It has since returned to a secure cabinet at Hove Museum.
What was its use?
The Hove amber cup, like many such artefacts from the Bronze Age, is believed to have been used as a ceremonial or prestige item rather than for everyday use.
Its exquisite craftsmanship and the fact that it was buried with the deceased suggest that it was of significant symbolic or ritual importance.
The cup’s presence in the burial mound indicates that it was likely associated with high status individuals and might have been used in ceremonial contexts, possibly for offerings or as a status symbol.
The design of the cup
The cup features a single handle, large enough to accommodate a finger, adorned with a fillet on each side of its flat surface, similar to the cup’s overall design.
The rim is not perfectly round, and the decorative band does not extend over the space within the handle, which is marked by a line at each end that appears to be a cut.
These features suggest the cup was handcrafted.
The rim has two small chips: one on the left of the handle, which is recent and was caused by the spade of the man who discovered the cup; and one on the right, which is smaller and shows signs of age.
The cup’s surface is smooth, except where earth remains adhered from burial. Since its excavation, the amber has developed slight cracks throughout.
When the cup was lifted by the handle, it broke into two pieces due to a blow from the workman’s spade.
Fortunately, the fragments fit together precisely, allowing for easy repair.
According to calculations, the capacity of the cup is a little more than half a pint.
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