SNETTISHAM HOARDS

For over 60 years, spectacular discoveries have been made on a wooded hillside at Snettisham, overlooking the northwest Norfolk coast, close to Hunstanton. The location of the discoveries, at Ken Hill, is known as the ‘gold field’ because of the large number of gold and silver alloy neck-rings (‘torcs’) and coins recovered from the site. Known as the ‘Snettisham Treasure’, these objects represent one of the largest collections of prehistoric precious metal objects ever discovered, and one of the largest concentrations of Celtic art. The objects were found in at least 14 separate hoards buried between 150 BC and AD 100 – spanning the late Iron Age and early Roman periods, but with a peak of activity during the late Iron Age.

The objects from Snettisham are widely known, but the site has never been fully published. This book is the first comprehensive account of the discoveries and excavations at the site and presents a full catalogue of the finds. The majority are in the British Museum, with a significant collection also held by Norwich Castle Museum. The book also presents the results of extensive scientific analysis, revealing new and exciting details about how torcs were manufactured.

Discussion chapters explore the importance of torc design and decoration, torc biographies, and the relationships between people, objects, and materials in Iron Age Norfolk. The final section places Snettisham in its wider social and landscape context. Why were these artifacts deposited here? What was so significant about this location? What purpose did the hoards serve and what sort of society could make such complex and technologically accomplished artifacts? The authors argue that each hoard represents different collection and depositional histories. The repeated, yet varied, acts of deposition at the site were part of creating, negotiating and reinforcing social structures, as well as performing and creating social change.

Table of Contents

Part I: The site
Chapter 1: Introduction (Julia Farley and Jody Joy)
Chapter 2: A History of discoveries at the site (Jody Joy)

Part II: The British Museum excavations at Snettisham
Chapter 3: Excavating at Snettisham (Ian Stead)
Chapter 4: The results of the 1990-1992 excavations (Julia Farley)

Part III: Material Culture
Chapter 5: Metalwork (Julia Farley, Jody Joy, Ian Stead, John Davies)
Chapter 6: Coins (Eleanor Ghey, John Davies and Julia Farley)
Chapter 7: Summary of finds by hoard (Julia Farley and Jody Joy)
Chapter 8: Prehistoric Pottery (Sarah Percival)
Chapter 9: Roman Pottery (Alice Lyons)
Chapter 10: Roman CBM (Alice Lyons)
Chapter 11: Furnace debris (Paul Craddock and Janet Lang)
Chapter 12: Flint (Peter Makey)
Chapter 13: Other stone objects (Peter Makey and Julia Farley)
Chapter 14: Animal bone (Alan Pipe)

Part IV: Conservation and analysis
Chapter 15: The Conservation campaign (Fleur Shearman and Marilyn Hockey)
Chapter 16: Technology and manufacture (Nigel Meeks, Aude Mongiatti, Daniel O’Flynn, Duncan Hook, and Caroline Cartwright, with contributions from John Fenn)
Chapter 17: Compositional analysis (Peter Northover)
Chapter 18: Seeing the wood for the trees; evaluating the woody resources of Snettisham (Caroline Cartwright)
Chapter 19: Decoration of the Snettisham torcs (Jody Joy)
Chapter 20: Torc biographies (Jody Joy, Nigel Meeks and Julia Farley)

Part V: Discussion
Chapter 21: Torcs and bodily adornment in Iron Age Britain (Jody Joy and Julia Farley)
Chapter 22: Snettisham in its social and landscape context (Jody Joy and Julia Farley)
Chapter 23: Conclusions (Julia Farley and Jody Joy)

Part VI: Appendices
Appendix 1: Other torcs from Great Britain (Julia Farley, Jody Joy and Ian Stead)
Appendix 2: The radiocarbon dating programme (Julia Farley)
Appendix 3: Analysis of Iron Age gold alloy coins from Snettisham (Matt Ponting)
Appendix 4: Surface XRF analyses of selected objects from NCM (Peter Northover), the BM (Duncan Hook), and comparative material (Peter Northover)
Appendix 5: Phosphate Survey (Mike Cowell)
Appendix 6: The excavation methodology for the 1990-1992 excavations (Tony Spence)
Appendix 7: Geophysical survey of the hoard field (Michael de Bootman)

Bibliography
Index

Julia Farley is a curator at the British Museum. She was responsible for the European Iron Age collections from 2014 to 2021, and now works as the Lead Curator on the Reimagining the British Museum project. She has curated a number of exhibitions, including Celts: art and identity (2015–16), organised in partnership between the British Museum and National Museums Scotland. Julia also held a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the University of Leicester, looking at the circulation of gold and silver. Her work explores craft, making and materials, and the colonial encounter between communities in Iron Age Britain and the Roman world.

Jody Joy is a Senior Curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, where he is responsible for the European Archaeology collections. Prior to that, he was Curator of the European Iron Age at the British Museum. He has curated numerous exhibitions over the past 20 years on subjects as varied as the Archaeology of Childhood and the Mesolithic site of Star Carr. He has published widely on numerous topics including, the archaeology and art of the European Iron Age and the ethics of displaying human remains in museums.