File:Bracer (plan) (FindID 402124).jpg

English: Incomplete slate bracer, broken in half so that only one end survives with two perforations. This would have originally had another two holes at the opposite end and is classified as a Type B2 (Ann Woodward pers comm) within the pre-exisiting Atkinson typology (see Clarke, 1970, Vol.2, p.296, Fig.132, Appendices 3.1 & 3.2).

The bracer is made of local Cornish slate (Fiona Roe pers comm). The breaks are relatively fresh and modern, and as it was found in a ploughed field, the breaks may be caused by plough damage.

"In original use bracers such as these date from the Beaker period, probably between c.2500 - 2000 cal BC, although some have been found in Early Bronze Age graves, where they were probably heirloom items. Some bracers may have served to protect the wrist from the rebounding bow string, when they were found on the inner face of the forearm, but a significant number were found on the outside of the arm, or rather higher up than the wrist. The current view is that many of them would have been valuable items which were mounted on the outer arm where they acted as highly visible signs of status. They may also have served to symbolise the traditional importance of archery. These ideas were reached independently by our own research project, and by a team working in Leiden, Netherlands. The latter is published in PPS 74 (1978) by Harry Fokkens et al. There is also our own preliminary Leverhulme project paper: Woodward et al, which appeared in Antiquity 80 (2006), pp.530-43" (Ann Woodward pers comm).