Early Iron Age hoards in the Vale of Wardour, Wilts.

The strange case of the bronzes buried in the Vale of Wardour Did prehistoric Britons have museums? That is one explanation, perhaps in the form of shrines, for a group of metal hoards from Wiltshire and Hampshire brought into focus by an extraordinary new find. Dot Boughton reports 42|British Archaeology |March April 2013 PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME (5) In September 2011 a local detecting enthusiast found a spearhead in a field in Wiltshire. He removed a few further items, but his detector suggested there was much more. Guessing he had come across a prehistoric hoard, he stopped digging and contacted his finds liaison officer, Katie Hinds. She and the county archaeologist, Melanie Pomeroy-Kellinger, then led a smallscale investigation of the site. They were pleasantly surprised to uncover over a hundred further bronze objects. They could see at once how significant the find was: besides being a unique group of artefacts, it would turn out to hold the key to solving a mystery that included one of the most curious ancient hoards found in Britain in the 20th century. The new find is now known as the Tisbury hoard, and it featured in Britain’s Secret Treasures, a 2012 ITV television series. It contains around 114 bronze weapons, tools and ornaments, and was probably buried in Recovering a bent knife blade at the dig Excavation revealed a compact mass of corroded bronze objects, with little indication of a pit or any other finds the early iron age, in or towards the end of the seventh century BC. But the objects range in date from the middle (or even early) bronze age, a span of over 1,000 years. And though dominated by 45 woodworking tools and 40 pieces of weaponry, their full variety is just as remarkable. Altogether there are 15 socketed gouges, nine socketed axes, eight palstaves and one flat axe, and 12 other carpentry tools such as chisels, awls and punches; 29 spearheads, seven swords, two chapes (scabbard fittings) and two rapiers; six sickles and six knives; five dress pins, two razors, a bracelet or collar, a ring, a button, a toggle, a strap fitting and six unidentified objects. It is as if we were to open our kitchen drawer to find John Lewis cutlery, Anglo-Saxon jewellery and everything in between. What is the explanation for this extraordinary collection? Is it real? Archaeologists assume that the artefacts in metal hoards were contemporary – they were made at roughly the same time, used at roughly the same time and buried at roughly the same time, even if that may have stretched to one or two hundred years. Some items may have been new and others old and used, but generally they are always considered to have been in circulation together. On various occasions, many closely similar hoards are found. In Kent, Essex and Suffolk, for example, many late bronze age hoards were buried around 1000–800bc, characterised by “Ewart Park” style material such as south-eastern socketed axes, swords, tools and smaller ornaments, scrap material and, in some instances, “Carp’s Tongue” bronzes from across the English Channel (as in a hoard from Boughton Malherbe, Kent). Or again, from Dorset are hoards of a type of socketed axe that was small, thinly cast and with a very shiny, silvery surface unknown on bronze age axes; these are ascribed to the earliest iron age, around 800–600bc. Such similarity of contents supports the notion that hoarded material was contemporary. However, a few prehistoric hoards have been found whose apparent contents were most British Archaeology |March April 2013|43 D BOUGHTON, PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME, BRITISH MUSEUM Left: A scatter of metal items ranging in date from 2200– 100bc was excavated at Danebury, Hampshire, in the 1970s, but with no comparable hoards then known, archaeologists were unsure what to make of it Below: The 114 pieces of the Tisbury hoard, from axes at far left (palstaves top, socketed below), through gouges and chisels, swords, spearheads and (far right) pins and ornaments definitely not in circulation at the same time. Three stand out, from Danebury (Hampshire), Batheaston (Somerset – but see below) and Salisbury (Wiltshire). They have artefacts dating from the early bronze age (2200– 1500bc) through to the middle iron age (450–100bc). There are problems with all three “hoards”, and there has been understandable debate about whether such “multi-period” metalwork depositions are real, or accidents of recent acquisition. The Danebury hoard contained, amongst other items, a small flat axe, a flanged axe, late bronze age and early iron age socketed axes, a rapier and a sword fragment. It was found dispersed over an area of four square metres near one of the entrances of a well-known 44|British Archaeology |March April 2013 iron age hillfort, and at the time both the excavator, Barry Cunliffe, and metalwork specialist, Brendan O’Connor, doubted if it should be considered a true hoard, as the 12 artefacts did not come from a closed context. In its favour was the fact that it had been excavated by archaeologists – something that unfortunately could not be said of the other two candidates. Both the Salisbury and Batheaston hoards were discovered illegally by nighthawks. Many of the items in the first had been sold individually on the antiques market before they came to the attention of Ian Stead, in 1988, then responsible for the British Museum’s iron age collections. He followed the trail through at least 30 collectors and dealers, three international salerooms and two other museums. He acquired as much as he could for the British Museum, a story that involved an arrest in a pub at which the archaeologist made a pre-arranged signal to the police by polishing his glasses (told fully in The Salisbury Hoard by Ian Stead, Tempus 1998). The “Batheaston hoard” was acquired by the British Museum in two lots, in 1989 and 2010. The pieces may be from one hoard, or possibly two, and were probably found at a single site in south Wiltshire, perhaps near Wylye some 15km from the site of the Salisbury hoard. In the end the latter’s findspot (at Netherhampton, a few kilometres west of Salisbury) was disclosed and investigated, but like the Wylye hoard, the hoard itself was not excavated by professionals. We have no proof of how exactly the artefacts were laid out and buried. However, the contents of all three hoards are similar, and distinguished by the unusually eclectic ranges of types Above: The “Salisbury hoard” was excavated illegally in the 1980s and recovered from dealers and collectors. The present locations of 463 pieces are known, and over 200 more may exist, ranging in date over some 1,500 years. Among the most recent items are many otherwise rare miniature iron age shields (scale 5cm) When was it buried? In 2011 the site in the Vale of Wardour was in an arable field, highly visible in an open landscape at the top of a slope: for security reasons it had to be excavated in a single day. A small trench was opened above the spot where the detectorist had dug, and the soil removed by hand in spits down to the level of the top of the hoard, about 30cm from the field surface. The trench was then expanded in the search for a pit. The objects were carefully recorded as they were removed and bagged one by one, and the British Museum filmed the work. There was no sign of any disturbance since the objects had been buried: there was almost no soil between them, as they lay one on top of another in a layer of metal 35cm deep. Neither was there any obvious pit into which they had been placed, just a slight dark stain in the soil, a metre long and 40cm wide – perhaps caused by the decay of material such as a leather bag or basket, or even the metalwork itself. So while the dig proved the integrity of the hoard, it also showed that any further questions about it could be answered only by study of what was in it. The first question, was when had it been buried? The pointer to that lies in This page: Selection of items from the Tisbury haord (see text for details) the youngest artefacts. Their origin seems to suggest a strong connection between the local Wiltshire community and central Europe. Two curious objects are probably dagger hilt fragments (above), one with an almost exact parallel in the Netherhampton hoard. They resemble the terminals or pommels of antennahilted daggers of the European early iron age (Hallstatt D, 600–450bc), typical on the continent but rare in Britain. Also of this age is part of a knobbed bracelet (below left), common in graves on the continent, but again rare in Britain – technically the piece retains the bossed Hallstatt ornament, but has the advanced hinge of the subsequent La Tène period, so is probably late Hallstatt D. The winged chape (below) also finds close parallels on the continent, for example from Tombelle A, Cazevieille in Hérault, France, but is a little older (Hallstatt C, 800–600bc). There is also a native early iron age piece (below), if perhaps dating from the bronze age/iron age transition period around 800bc rather than the iron age proper. This is a socketed sickle, a “heeled” type known from hoards such as Cardiff II and Llyn Fawr from the Vale of Glamorgan, and also as single finds, for example from Icklingham, Suffolk and Southacre, Norfolk. The three closest parallels are sickles with conical sockets from “the Oxford region”, Dores near Inverness and Winterbourne Monkton, Wiltshire. Above: Probable dagger hilt fragments Two socketed axes Right: Socketed sickle fragment Far right: Small bagshaped chape Above: Winged chape from a scabbard tip Left: Four views of part of a knobbed bracelet A socketed sickle If the hoard had been buried not long before 500bc, most of the items in it are older. Socketed axes, two socketed sickle fragments and a small bag-shaped chape (a continental Atlantic type), are late bronze age (1150–800bc, all seen above). The rapier, sword and spearhead fragments date from the middle and late bronze age. The palstaves are middle bronze age (1500–1150bc) and a single incomplete flat axehead is early bronze age (2200–1500bc). The Netherhampton and Wylye hoards are given new credibility by the Tisbury hoard. They are larger than the latter (at least 535 and 301 objects respectively, compared to Tisbury’s 114), and were buried slightly later, probably in the second century BC. Reflecting this more recent date, British Archaeology |March April 2013|45 PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME (9) and ages. With the discovery and excavation of the Tisbury hoard, we can now be certain that one of them at least is real. 46|British Archaeology |March April 2013 PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME The Tisbury hoard: 114 bronzes carefully concealed together a little before 500bc that are throwing light on a little understood practice of prehistoric collecting British Archaeology |March April 2013|47 WILTSHIRE MUSEUM/D BOUGHTON, SALISBURY & SOUTH WILTS MUSEUM/D BOUGHTON, PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME Above: Found at two different times during dredging of the Avon in the 1970s, these items from Melksham, Wiltshire, are thought to be a hoard buried on the river bank. The discs, pierced by swords or spears, are bronze horse harness decorations; the rapier tip (top) and three spearheads (bottom left) are also bronze, but the two spears on the right are iron. With the latter, the discs are probably imports from central Europe (Hallstatt C, 800–600bc) different people and in all probability in different places. The older artefacts could not all have been discovered in a single ploughing. But one thing connects them all: they were concealed in a field not far from other multiperiod hoards, such as Danebury, Netherhampton and Wylye. And there may be a fifth, a group of artefacts from the river Avon near Melksham, also in Wiltshire (see photo, left). Should each of these be considered one individual’s collection? Or were they, perhaps more likely, the discoveries of several people in the same community? There were no prehistoric metal detectorists, but clearly, some old metal artefacts were discovered and kept. It is likely that many were found by farmers or field workers. Agriculture played a much more important part of everyday life than it does for us today, and the work was much “closer to the ground”. In the later bronze age and iron age, farmers may regularly have come across earlier bronze age metalwork. Sometimes (or elsewhere in Britain) such finds were melted down as scrap, reappearing in new axes, swords or knives. Today, we may find some indication of this in an artefact’s metal makeup, but it will be all but impossible to say what the recycled material was or where it came from. For our iron age communities in Wiltshire, however, these discoveries were different. Early and middle bronze age flat axes, palstaves, rapiers and daggers must have been considered either unworthy or too valuable to be recycled. Personally, I would favour the latter. I would like to think that whoever buried these multi-period hoards had an idea about the age of what they had, and its connection to their own contemporary tools and weapons. Perhaps when a piece of foreign or dated-looking metalwork was found, a community elder or leader Netherhampton has more axeheads (192), while spearheads are prominent in Tisbury; Wylye has many personal ornaments such as pins and brooches (182 in all); and Netherhampton and Wylye also contained later iron age brooches, tiny votive cauldrons and ornamental or votive shields. Why was it buried? Below: A curious early iron age hoard found near Hindon, Wiltshire, in 2011, which includes a bronze sickle fragment, a piece of gold and much metalworking debris 48|British Archaeology |March April 2013 The other key question is rather more difficult to answer. The Tisbury bronzes lay close together, and during the excavation all signs were that they were buried in a single act. One of the finders of the Netherhampton hoard said that ornaments lay in a group, and that the socketed axes were laid out, fan-shaped, next to each other in a circle on top. This strongly suggests that everything here was deposited at once too, and not added, one after the other, bit by bit. So why were so many different artefacts buried together in the Vale of Wardour? They were made at different times, for different purposes, by Right: A socketed spearhead (1200–1350bc), gouge, awl and three pieces of socketed axehead (900–700bc) found near Tisbury in 2009 – all bronze age, but the gouge has iron on it, suggesting an earliest iron age burial date, 800–600bc area in which bronze artefacts were buried with very early wrought iron, such as those from Melksham and Hindon – the latter found in 2012 by the same man who found the Tisbury hoard (see photos, right). Perhaps these communities understood how bronze technology had developed over time. Large-scale hoarding of bronze artefacts came to a sudden end after the earliest iron age. Bronze was still used, often for fine, prestigious items, but from around 800–600bc most tools and weapons were made from iron. The change was quick, though as far as we can tell it did not seem to interrupt everyday life too much. With the growing number of alert and interested detectorists discovering these rare hoards, and reporting them to the local finds liaison officer before taking them out of the ground, our hopes of understanding this curious time look strong. There must be more multi-period hoards hidden in the soils of Wiltshire and Hampshire. With any luck, they, too, will be excavated by the finders and local archaeologists. SALISBURY & SOUTH WILTS MUSEUM/D BOUGHTON was consulted, who suggested it should be kept as a tangible link with the past – second in significance only to nearby stone circles, burial mounds or other prehistoric monuments. Perhaps, even, people felt a brief connection with distant ancestors of their own community. If that is right, these prehistoric people had some idea of time and its passing – not just in years or decades, but centuries or millennia. This would be much longer than living people could remember, unless ancient tools and weapons were recalled in songs or stories of which we know nothing. It is a tantalising thought, even uplifting – for someone like me who works in museums – that all of these artefacts may have been kept before deposition in some kind of “community museum”. They may have been considered not possessions of the finders, but of the community, much as most of us think today: to be used, enjoyed, admired or prayed before by all. Perhaps they were displayed. There are also some hoards in this Excavation in 2012 of a large hoard in Hindon, awaiting conservation, revealed a compact mass of metalwork, with bronze age socketed axes and rings, an early iron age heeled socketed sickle and three iron socketed spearheads Dot Boughton is the Portable Antiquities Scheme finds liaison officer for Cumbria and Lancashire Archaeology degree courses Bradford undergraduate students on placement placement in in 2011-12 2011-12 working working in in the thefield, field,ininthe thelaboratory laboratoryand andwith withthe thepublic. public.Images Imagesfrom fromthe Rhondda Cynon Taf Museum and Heritage Service, York Archaeological Trust and Rousay Field School, Orkney. ̈ Three- or Four-year degree programmes leading to BA or BSc. Fee is reduced for students on the four-year programme ̈ Celebrating 40 years of our unique professional training year taken as part of the undergraduate degree and leading to a Diploma of Professional Studies ̈ Commitment to hands-on archaeology in the field and in the laboratory inspired by latest research ̈ Courses spanning the humanities-science spectrum that make archaeology one of the most rewarding, relevant and challenging degrees around ̈ A wide range of specialist postgraduate courses with AHRC funding for a Professional Preparation Masters award for 2013 For further details please email us at: [email protected] or visit: www.bradford.ac.uk/archenvi British Archaeology |March April 2013|49