Hoards of the Bronze Age in Southern Britain

Hoards have been defined as the deposition of two or more metal objects together in the ground with no other archaeological associations. That definition is widely accepted and has been used here in that sense, both in retrieving and discussing information. It is clear from this study that more in-depth analysis of metalwork is possible and fruitful, that the objects within hoards carry much valuable additional information that can be analysed, that hoards in isolation can produce patterning in the data, and that these hoards can lend weight to our social models of prehistory. It is these questions to which this study has addressed itself, and which it has begun to answer.