Beyond the Objects: Landscape, Spatiality and Romano-British Metalwork Hoarding

Romano-British hoards have been researched by archaeologists for over two hundred years, in particular coin hoards. Yet there is another hoard type, containing artefacts, that have rarely been studied and are known as ‘metalwork hoards’. These represent a diverse phenomenon, and the limited previous research has not considered the whole body of evidence. This has led to a lacuna in our knowledge, especially on the location of these deposits in the landscape which has been passed over by the priority placed on their contents. Therefore, in this thesis there is a movement away from the artefacts deposited and a deliberate focus is placed on the depositional context. Here, metalwork hoarding will be contextualised and interpreted using the ‘New Materialist’ framework of Assemblage Theory, moving beyond the atheoretical perspective of much previous research. Hoards were vibrant assemblages of artefacts, depositional location interacting with ephemeral relationships, including beliefs, intentions and ideas. By conceptualising hoards as assemblages, this thesis will expose the tensions between individuality and other multi-scalar influences. Spatiality is crucial for our understanding of metalwork hoards, and this thesis has shown they were deposited with respect to their built and natural environment. Chapter 4 explores hoarding practice across Britain, where diversity was embedded within underlying broad trends. Regional and local trends were identified which were further analysed in Chapter 5, showing specific local practices of hoarding, not necessarily reflecting the rest of the archaeological record. For the first time, in Chapter 6, hoards have been analysed within their intra-site context, revealing how they were embedded within, and interacted with, these spaces. These deposits were unique but created by complex relations between human agency, material culture, socio-cultural beliefs and the landscape.