Hoards: Hidden History

An investigation into the most interesting and bountiful hoards from every era, examining the finds themselves and the motives of the people who abandoned them.
For centuries people have been hoarding their personal belongings and leaving, after they have gone, a wealth of splendid treasures and magnificent forgotten riches. Over the years, many have been drawn into the excitement of searching for these hidden treasures that might reveal lost histories of an individual, a family or a whole culture. Many of the rarest and most beautiful objects in museum collections today were once deliberately placed in the ground by their owners and never recovered until found by an archaeologist, metal detectorist or, in some cases, just an ordinary passer-by.   This book will investigate the most interesting and bountiful hoard discoveries as well as studying the practise of hoarding itself. Exploring the great variety of hoards all the way from Bronze-Age weapon deposits, Greek and Roman coin hoards, impressive Viking wealth, to gold sovereigns hidden in the twentieth century, this book will consider who was responsible for the hoarding, and why they might have been compelled to do so. These motivations may shed light on times of economic upheaval or reveal more complex social and ritual customs.   Illustrated with colour photographs that show the appearance of finds at the time of their discovery and the beauty of individual treasures contained within them such as rare coins and exquisite metalwork, this book is the ideal introduction for history enthusiasts or those with an insatiable curiosity for buried treasure.