. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . from all the assemblages studied could be described in terms ofseven categories, based on their morphology. These were foil, tacks, prills, beads, rodsections, wire, and discs. Gold foil, or sheet ranging from to mm thick, was well represented in all thecollections. Original size could be estimated if the foil contained punch marks, since thesemarks would have been on the edges of the foil pieces (Fig. 2). Most individual pieceswere usually no larger than 20 mm by 30 mm, although the gold rhinoceros fromMapu
. Annals of the South African Museum = Annale van die Suid-Afrikaanse Museum . from all the assemblages studied could be described in terms ofseven categories, based on their morphology. These were foil, tacks, prills, beads, rodsections, wire, and discs. Gold foil, or sheet ranging from to mm thick, was well represented in all thecollections. Original size could be estimated if the foil contained punch marks, since thesemarks would have been on the edges of the foil pieces (Fig. 2). Most individual pieceswere usually no larger than 20 mm by 30 mm, although the gold rhinoceros fromMapungubwe (Meyer 1998) was made from substantially larger sheets. The punch marksthemselves were usually square, reflecting the square cross section of the tacks (Fig. 3).All the sheets were pitted and rough on one side, evidently from being hammered out on agranular stone anvil. Sheets were cut to the required size by using either a chisel or a blade,or simply used as is with the ragged edges hidden by overlaps, pinned in place on wooden 84 ANNALS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM. Figure 2 A perforated gold sheet from Mapungubwe, showing the scratch burnish on the outer surface (magnification 4x).
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booki, booksubjectnaturalhistory
