Gavel Moss Hoard
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of bronze artefacts known as the Gavel Moss Hoard. The objects were recovered in 1790 during ploughing at Gavel Moss Farm, near Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire. The items are Early Bronze Age, and date to around 1750–1550 BC. The Gavel Moss Hoard consists of three fine pieces of metalwork, namely one bronze dagger blade and two bronze flanged axeheads. It is said that when first discovered the hoard included armour, which was later discarded due to a poor state of preservation. In addition, the axehead hafts and dagger hilt have not survived. Twenty years after discovery, the hoard was given by the farmer to his niece as a wedding present, and it stayed in her family until it was purchased by Glasgow Museums in 1959, having been on loan prior to the acquisition date. The Gavel Moss Hoard is best interpreted as a ritual or religious offering of a group of prestigious bronze objects which have deliberately been taken out of use and deposited in the ground, a practice which eventually reaches its peak in the Late Bronze Age.
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