Hoarding is an important theme in both British and continental research, and these three publications offer a variety of approaches to this phenomenon, ranging widely both chronologically and geographically. Two are edited volumes, focusing on Britain and the Low Countries/Northern Gaul, while the third represents an interim report on an important recent discovery from Britain.
The volume edited by Naylor and Bland is based on the proceedings of a 2011 Portable Antiquities Scheme conference discussing approaches to hoarding deposition and practice, which has also stimulated an ongoing research project at the British Museum and the University of Leicester (http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/hoarding-in-iron-age-and-roman-britain).
Bland's opening article provides a comprehensive summary of hoarding practice from the Bronze Age through to the Civil War and provides useful background for the period-specific papers comprising the rest of the volume. He notes how interpretations of the reasons for hoard burials change depending on period specialisms and traditions; ritual or religious motivations are more commonly suggested for prehistoric hoards, whereas the safekeeping hypothesis is often more popular for Roman and subsequent periods. To a certain extent, this split is reflected by the papers in the volume though many discuss deposition motivations other than safekeeping.
The main focus of the volume is coinage, with only Haselgrove, Leahy and Naylor addressing object hoards in any great detail. Focusing on river finds from the Thames region, Naylor demonstrates continuity of deposition in water contexts from the Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman period to his main focus, the early medieval period. Haselgrove reviews the evidence for Iron Age object hoard deposition while Farley addresses contemporary coinage later in the volume; Haselgrove's argument to recategorise hoards as deposits is strong but would raise issues when separating metal objects and ‘structured deposits’ in current online databases. His focus on the iron object hoards illustrates interesting results and patterning for the period. Farley identifies social motivations for the creation and deposition of coinage through the comparison of two case-study areas (the North Thames and East Midlands). Her classification system for responses to internal and external pressures on coinage provides a useful tool for future regional comparison.
Papers by Guest and Reece challenge our understanding of the dating of hoards beyond conventional termini post quem; these approaches could well transform some of the hoard dating we view as set. Besly raises several interesting points concerning the impact of study areas on our perception of hoard patterning, emphasising how the finding of several larger hoards could easily change the overall patterns for Civil War coinage (or indeed many other periods). In passing, he refers to the amounts of money removed from circulation and the effect that this must have had on supply and on the economy.
There are a few omissions to highlight: biases in the recovery record (i.e. preference for certain landscapes/ploughed fields) are not addressed, but have been identified in previous studies by K. Robbins (‘Balancing the scales: exploring the variable effects of collection bias on data collected by the Portable Antiquities Scheme’, Landscapes 14.1 (2013), 54–72). Ideally, the problems with ascertaining a tighter chronology for object hoards and their use-life prior to deposition could also be addressed in greater detail. Despite these minor criticisms, the book addresses many of the current themes and debates in hoarding on a cross-cultural level — no easy task!
The volume edited by Roymans, Creemers and Scheers was originally conceived to publish the newly discovered Maastricht-Amby hoard and to combine it with previously only briefly published or unpublished hoards from Fraire, Thuin and Orp-le-Grand. The discovery of the Philippeville hoard in 2010 added another article. The volume is clearly structured with very little repetitive information. Roymans and Scheers’ introduction provides regional background and argues for adjustments to the dating of Late Iron Age gold emissions. They also present a convincing argument for identifying the fort at Thuin as the oppidum of the Aduatuci and therefore for the burial of the Thuin hoard being contemporary with Caesar's invasions. They stress that we will never fully understand the reasons for deposition of a hoard, be it safekeeping or a gift to the gods, but that these two motivations cannot always be viewed as exclusive.
The subsequent articles (Roymans, Scheers, Creemers, Impe, Dijkman) also explore hoard locations, where available, and the surrounding landscape. Detailed discussions of Orp-le-Grand (Impe and Scheers) and the three gold hoards of Thuin (Scheers, Creemers, Roymans, Impe) show links with settlements and that of Fraire (Scheers and Creemers) with iron ore deposits. The articles also examine the issue of repeated or single deposition through studying ploughing scatters (Impe and Scheers) and soil movement (Scheers and Impe). A better understanding of soil movements in particular is something that may prove useful for future hoard landscape investigations.
The topographical analysis is interesting but for other hoards we are hampered by the lack of excavation in surrounding areas, making it difficult to link the deposition of these hoards to any settlements or large-scale socio-economic changes. Hopefully this picture will become clearer with future excavation. It would also have been useful to discuss how topographic locations and composition compare to preceding and subsequent hoards, but this would be another book in itself.
Each article provides discussion of both coins and objects, with images and appendices provided for each hoard. The objects contained within the hoards are compared and discussed within their regional and landscape contexts with similarities to other finds noted. The hoarding of gold coins and torcs together was previously addressed in a wider study by A. Fitzpatrick (‘Gifts for the golden gods: torques and coins’, in C. Haselgrove and D. Wigg-Wolf (eds), Iron Age Coinage and Ritual Practices (2005), 157–82), which may be why it was not covered in detail here.
The images and maps are of high quality and coins are reproduced on a 2:1 scale. One of the aims of the publication was to ensure that the pictures could be analysed by other researchers. Explanation of the methodology for reconstructing coinage seriation is useful for those new to the subject and, similarly, Wouters’ article outlines the benefits and limitations of EDXRF and SEK-EDX analyses. The volume has much for both experts and those new to Celtic coinage. The emphasis on integrating landscape analysis into the study of hoards is evident in more recent publications, such as P. De Jersey (Coin Hoards in Iron Age Britain (2015)), and it is currently being used within the University of Leicester and British Museum hoarding project.
Finally, Ghey's short publication on the Beau Street hoard follows a similar line to the above studies by examining in detail the excavation and location of the find. Spanning the period 32 b.c.–a.d. 274, the hoard contains 17,577 coins and was found in 2007 during the development of the Gainsborough Hotel. At the time of the book going to press, it was still undergoing conservation work prior to final publication. This book aimed to help raise money so that the Bath Museum could acquire the hoard (50p from each book contributes to the fund).
Ghey covers the hoard's find circumstances and conservation in detail, as Beau Street is unusual given its size, burial in a then-urban area and proximity to the sanctuary. Furthermore, x-rays of the block-lifted hoard indicate that coins were sorted into eight separate bags before burial, which provides an interesting insight into the deposition and selection processes. Ghey compares the composition and location of the Beau Street hoard with those of Normanby, Shrewsbury and Cunetio amongst others. Ghey also sets the burial and form of this hoard in a British context and finds parallels for the separation of coins into bags with practices from across the Roman Empire.
The book contains a number of beautifully reproduced images of coins, mosaics and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century prints of Bath. It is worth buying to support a good cause — but those mainly interested in the numismatic contents may want to wait for the forthcoming full publication.
