WHAT IS THE HOARD?

Any collection of objects buried at one time; a deliberate deposit of complete and/or broken objects buried in the ground for subsequent recovery or as a symbolic act. A hoard often includes valuables or prized possessions. Many hoards represent the personal property of individuals, buried for safety at a time of threat and not recovered. Hoards are a useful source of evidence for archaeologists, because they provide considerable quantities of material and, except in the case of some votive hoards, that material represents a true association. Various classes are distinguished according to their method of accumulation. A merchant’s hoard will contain new objects ready for sale. A founder’s hoard by contrast will contain obsolete, worn out, or miscast objects, and frequently cake metal as well – all of it awaiting melting down and recasting. A votive hoard is rather different in that the objects were deposited, possibly over a long period of time, in temples or caves, buried, or thrown into water as religious offerings, with no intention of recovery. A hoard of loot is self-explanatory. Bronze Age hoards provide much of the evidence for the period.