Razor

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This bronze razor was found in a cremation burial at Magdalen Bridge at Joppa near Edinburgh in Midlothian. It was kept separate from the pyre, and later buried in the urn containing human bones and ashes, sometime between 1750 and 1500 BC.

Bronze razors were used as prestige shaving gear from the second millennium BC onwards. The blade of this example is broken, but originally had a tang. It has been finely decorated with an incised lattice pattern set within a pointed ellipse.

By around 1750 BC, in mainland Scotland, cremation had become the favoured funerary custom. Cremated remains were usually placed in a large pottery urn, its top covered by a skin or stone. The urn was then buried upside down in a cist or pit.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-100-034-361-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.DI 4
• Date: Between 1750 and 1500 BC
  
• Material: Bronze; oval shaped; tanged; imperfect; ornamented with a pattern of incised lines
  
• Dimensions: 2.75" x 1.25"
  
• What:
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Midlothian, Edinburgh, Joppa, Magdalen Bridge
  
• Event:
• Description: Bronze razor ornamented with a pattern of incised lines, found in an urn at Magdalen Bridge, Joppa
  
• References:
  • Clarke, D.V., Cowie, T.G., & Foxon, Andrew (eds). Symbols of power at the time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh: National Museums of Antiquities of Scotland, 1985, p 294. 
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