Hoards: hidden history

Abstract

• Every so often a remarkable discovery hits the headlines – often an account of treasure hunters striking lucky after years of searching the land, or perhaps a chance find made by a farmer after ploughing. With each new hoard comes a story, or a number of possible stories and unanswered questions. Who did it belong to? Why was it buried and not recovered? Was it lost? This fascinating book investigates a broad selection of hoards that have come to light in recent times across the British Isles. Here are caches of prehistoric axes; pits filled with intricately wrought Iron Age torcs; pots of Roman coins; spectacular Anglo-Saxon military equipment; impressive Viking brooches; a jeweller’s stock from seventeenth-century England; a sealed glass jar of gold sovereigns from World War II. The author looks at the variety of objects found, and at the practice of hoarding itself. She also considers who the hoarders were and what might have compelled them – economic upheaval, war, or more complex social and ritual customs.