Wakefield Museums and Castles

Archaeologists found this stone wrist guard whilst excavating a small Bronze Age cemetery at Fryston Wood. It came from a particularly rich grave.

A man aged 40 to 50 was buried, tightly crouched on his left side. Radiocarbon dating of the skeleton showed that the man lived and died around 2210-2030 BC. Analysis of his teeth suggests he grew up locally. 

He held a beautifully made bronze dagger in his hands. At his feet were the remains of a fancy pottery vessel called a beaker. The beaker had been broken before it was buried. The wrist guard was among the remains of the beaker. 

The wrist guard looks like the bracers worn by archers to protect their arms from the bow string. However, it would not have worked well in practice. The guard would not lie flat against the inner arm. The corner holes were probably for rivets, which the string would've got caught on. 

The wrist guard probably wasn't actually used for archery. Rather, it would have shown how important the man was.

These stone wrist guards are not common finds. They are found in richer male beaker graves across Europe. We only know of around 60 in England and Wales.

Wrist guards are often made of specially selected stone, something not available locally.

This one is made from stone only found in Langdale in the Lake District. Interestingly this is the same stone that was used to make the best polished axe heads. These axes too were probably a way of marking status.