THE GUARDIAN: Buried treasures: grave goods to inspire Michael Rosen elegies

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“These used to be dismissed by mainly male archaeologists as frivolities, objects of feminine vanity,” said Anwen Cooper, a bronze and iron age expert from the University of Manchester. “But whatever they were to these people, they were not that. The polished side would have given you a reflection, but a hazy one. When the Dorset woman lifted it, she would have seen a face, but not precisely hers – would she have seen the face of the dead, the face of her own grandmother? To me this is an object of power, as much as any sword.”