View source for Hoard

{{short description|Collection of valuable objects or artifacts}}
{{distinguish|Horde (disambiguation)}}
{{about|collections of objects|the behavior|hoarding|other uses}}

[[File:Silver coin hoard.jpg|thumb|A hoard of silver coins, the latest about 1700 ([[British Museum]]).]]
A '''hoard''' or "wealth deposit"<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5334/pia.403|journal=[[Papers from the Institute of Archaeology]] |title=Importance of terms: What is a wealth deposit?|volume=22|year=2012 |pages=61–82 |author=Oras, Ester|doi-access=free}}</ref> is an [[archaeology|archaeological]] term for a collection of valuable objects or [[artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a '''cache'''. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons (forgetfulness or physical displacement from its location) before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by [[metal detector]] hobbyists, members of the public, and [[archaeologist]]s.

Hoards provide a useful method of providing dates for artifacts through [[archaeological association|association]] as they can usually be assumed to be contemporary (or at least assembled during a decade or two), and therefore used in creating chronologies. Hoards can also be considered an indicator of the relative degree of unrest in ancient societies. Thus conditions in 5th and 6th century [[Britain in the Middle Ages|Britain]] spurred the burial of hoards, of which the most famous are the [[Hoxne Hoard]], Suffolk; the [[Mildenhall Treasure]], the [[Fishpool Hoard]], Nottinghamshire, the [[Water Newton Treasure|Water Newton]] hoard, Cambridgeshire, and the [[Cuerdale Hoard]], Lancashire, all preserved in the [[British Museum]]. <!--The [[Sevso Treasure]] is another notable hoard from the late [[Roman Empire]]. --this is not a list of notable hoards-->

Prudence Harper of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] voiced some practical reservations about hoards at the time of the Soviet exhibition of Scythian gold in New York City in 1975. Writing of the so-called "Maikop treasure" (acquired from three separate sources by three museums early in the twentieth century, the [[Berlin Museums|Berliner Museen]], the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]], and the Metropolitan Museum, New York), Harper warned:
{{blockquote|By the time "hoards" or "treasures" reach museums from the antiquities market, it often happens that miscellaneous objects varying in date and style have become attached to the original group.<ref>''From the Lands of the Scythians''; special edition of ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' xxxii no. 5, 1975.</ref>}}

Such "dealer's hoards" can be highly misleading, but better understanding of archaeology amongst collectors, museums and the general public is gradually making them less common and more easily identified.

== Classification ==
{{Globalize section|United Kingdom|date=November 2023}}
{{One source|section|date=November 2023}}
[[File:Tesoro de Villena 04.JPG|thumb|320px|[[Treasure of Villena]], 1000 BC, the biggest prehistoric gold hoard in Western Europe. Discovered in 1963.]]
Hoards may be of precious [[metals]], [[coin]]age, [[tool]]s or less commonly, [[pottery]] or [[glass]] vessels. There are various [[Categorization|classifications]] depending on the nature of the hoard:

A '''founder's hoard''' contains broken or unfit metal objects, [[ingot]]s, casting waste, and often complete objects, in a finished state. These were probably buried with the intention to be recovered at a later time.

A '''merchant's hoard''' is a collection of various functional items which, it is conjectured, were buried by a traveling merchant for safety, with the intention of later retrieval.

A '''personal hoard''' is a collection of personal objects buried for safety in times of unrest.

A '''hoard of [[looting|loot]]''' is a buried collection of spoils from [[Raid (military)|raiding]] and is more in keeping with the popular idea of "[[buried treasure]]".

'''Votive hoards''' are different from the above in that they are often taken to represent permanent abandonment, in the form of ''purposeful deposition'' of items, either all at once or over time for [[ritual]] purposes, ''without intent to recover them''. Furthermore, votive hoards need not be "manufactured" goods, but can include organic [[amulet]]s and animal remains. Votive hoards are often distinguished from more functional deposits by the nature of the goods themselves (from animal bones to diminutive artifacts), the places buried (being often associated with watery places, burial mounds and boundaries), and the treatment of the deposit (careful or haphazard placement and whether ritually destroyed/broken).

Valuables dedicated to the use of a deity (and thus classifiable as "votive") were not always permanently abandoned. Valuable objects given to a temple or church become the property of that institution, and may be used to its benefit.<ref>C. Johns, "The classification and interpretation of Romano-British treasures", ''Britannia'' 27 (1996), 1–17: see especially pp. 9–11</ref>

==Hoards with individual articles==

===Americas===
====North America====
{{main|List of hoards in North America}}
* [[Baltimore gold hoard]]
* [[Bank of New York Hoard]]
* [[Castine Hoard]]
* [[Great Kentucky Hoard]]
* [[Great Montana Collection]]
* [[Saddle Ridge Hoard]]
* [[Dawson Film Find]]

====South America====
* [[Mesuno Treasure]]

===Asia===
* [[Akota Bronzes]]
* [[Bactrian Gold]]
* [[Chausa hoard]]
* [[Copper Hoard Culture]]
* [[Kfar Monash Hoard]]
* [[Priam's Treasure]]
* [[Wonoboyo hoard]]
* [[Ziwiye hoard]]

===Europe===

====[[List of hoards in Great Britain|Great Britain and the Channel Islands]]====
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Beau Street Hoard]]
* [[Bitterley Hoard]]
* [[Canterbury-St Martin's hoard]]
* [[Cheapside Hoard]]
* [[Collette Hoard]]
* [[Corbridge Hoard]]
* [[Cuerdale Hoard]]
* [[Cunetio Hoard]]
* [[Frome Hoard]]
* [[Galloway Hoard]]
* [[Grouville Hoard]]
* [[Havering hoard]]
* [[Hexham Hoard]]
* [[Hoxne Hoard]]
* [[Isleham Hoard]]
* [[Kirkoswald Hoard]]
* [[Lenborough Hoard]]
* [[Leominster hoard]]
* [[Melsonby Hoard]]
* [[Middleham Hoard]]
* [[Migdale Hoard]]
* [[Mildenhall Treasure]]
* [[Milton Keynes Hoard]]
* [[Rogiet Hoard]]
* [[Shapwick Hoard]]
* [[Shrewsbury Hoard]]
* [[Silsden Hoard]]
* [[Snettisham Hoard]]
* [[St Leonard's Place Hoard]]
* [[Staffordshire Hoard]]
* [[Stanchester Hoard]]
* [[Stirling Hoard]]
* [[Talnotrie Hoard]]
* [[Thetford Hoard]]
* [[Thornbury Hoard]]
* [[Tregwynt Hoard]]
* [[Upchurch Hoard]]
* [[Vale of York Hoard]] (previously known as ''Harrogate hoard'')
* [[Water Newton Treasure]]
* [[West Bagborough Hoard]]
* [[West Yorkshire Hoard]]
* [[Wickham Market Hoard]]
* [[Winchester Hoard]]
* [[Wold Newton hoard]]
{{div col end}}

====[[List of hoards in Ireland|Ireland]]====
* [[Ardagh Hoard]]
* [[Broighter Gold|Broighter Hoard]]
* [[Derrynaflan Chalice|Derrynaflan Hoard]]
* [[Dowris Hoard]]
* [[Mooghaun North Hoard]]

====Continental====
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Berthouville Treasure]], France (relating to the Romans)
* [[Borovo Treasure]], part of the [[Thracian treasure]]
* [[Broighter Gold]], Northern Ireland (relating to the Iron Age La Tène culture)
* [[Casco de Leiro]], Spain (relating to the Bronze Age)
* [[Chatuzange Treasure]], France (relating to Roman silver)
* [[Cheste hoard]], Spain (relating to the [[Second Punic War]])
* [[Eberswalde Hoard]], Germany (relating to the Bronze Age)
* [[First Cyprus Treasure]], Cyprus
* [[House of the Vestals Hoards]], Rome, Italy (end of Roman Empire and 10th century Italy)
* [[Lampsacus Treasure]], Turkey
* [[Lava Treasure]], France
* [[Paramythia Hoard]], Greece (relating to Greco-Roman artefacts)
* [[Pereshchepina Treasure]], Ukraine (relating to the Bulgars)
* [[Pietroasele Treasure]], Romania (relating to the Goths)
* [[Preslav Treasure]], Bulgaria (relating to the Byzantines)
* [[Reka Devnia Hoard]], Bulgaria (relating to the Romans)
* [[Saka Hoard]], Estonia (12th century)
* [[Sevso Treasure]], possibly Hungary (relating to the Romans)
* [[Treasure of El Carambolo]], Spain (relating to the [[Tartessos|Tartessians]])
* [[Treasure of Gourdon]], France (gold from 5th or 6th century)
* [[Treasure of Guarrazar]], Spain (relating to the [[Visigoths]])
* [[Treasure of Villena]], Spain (relating to the Bronze Age)
* [[Ubina Hoard]], Estonia (12th century)
* [[Vinkovci Treasure]]
{{div col end}}

====Scandinavia====
{{div col|colwidth=25em}}
* [[Havor Hoard]], Sweden
* [[Molnby Hoard]], Sweden (relating to the Viking age)
* [[Sandur Hoard]], Faroe Islands (relating to the Viking age)
* [[Spillings Hoard]], Sweden (relating to the Viking age)
* [[Sundveda Hoard]], Sweden (relating to the Viking age)
* [[Vindelev Hoard]], Denmark

{{div col end}}

=== North Africa and Middle East ===
* [[Asyut Treasure]]
* [[Megiddo Treasure]], a hoard found at [[Tel Megiddo]], [[Israel]]
* [[Nahal Mishmar hoard]]
* [[Kaper Koraon Treasure]], Syria

==See also==
{{Commons category|Hoards}}
* [[Lagerstätte]], a concentration of fossils useful for similar reasons in paleontology
* [[List of hoards in Britain]]
* [[List of hoards in Ireland]]
* [[List of hoards in North America]]
* [[List of missing treasure]]
* [[Hacksilver]]
* [[Treasure]]
* [[Treasure trove]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Treasure}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Archaeological artifacts]]
[[Category:Treasure]]