Editing Hoard (section)

{{short description|Collection of valuable objects or artifacts}}
{{distinguish|Horde (disambiguation)}}
{{about|collections of objects|the behavior|hoarding|other uses}}

[[File:Silver coin hoard.jpg|thumb|A hoard of silver coins, the latest about 1700 ([[British Museum]]).]]
A '''hoard''' or "wealth deposit"<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.5334/pia.403|journal=[[Papers from the Institute of Archaeology]] |title=Importance of terms: What is a wealth deposit?|volume=22|year=2012 |pages=61–82 |author=Oras, Ester|doi-access=free}}</ref> is an [[archaeology|archaeological]] term for a collection of valuable objects or [[artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a '''cache'''. This would usually be with the intention of later recovery by the hoarder; hoarders sometimes died or were unable to return for other reasons (forgetfulness or physical displacement from its location) before retrieving the hoard, and these surviving hoards might then be uncovered much later by [[metal detector]] hobbyists, members of the public, and [[archaeologist]]s.

Hoards provide a useful method of providing dates for artifacts through [[archaeological association|association]] as they can usually be assumed to be contemporary (or at least assembled during a decade or two), and therefore used in creating chronologies. Hoards can also be considered an indicator of the relative degree of unrest in ancient societies. Thus conditions in 5th and 6th century [[Britain in the Middle Ages|Britain]] spurred the burial of hoards, of which the most famous are the [[Hoxne Hoard]], Suffolk; the [[Mildenhall Treasure]], the [[Fishpool Hoard]], Nottinghamshire, the [[Water Newton Treasure|Water Newton]] hoard, Cambridgeshire, and the [[Cuerdale Hoard]], Lancashire, all preserved in the [[British Museum]]. <!--The [[Sevso Treasure]] is another notable hoard from the late [[Roman Empire]]. --this is not a list of notable hoards-->

Prudence Harper of the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] voiced some practical reservations about hoards at the time of the Soviet exhibition of Scythian gold in New York City in 1975. Writing of the so-called "Maikop treasure" (acquired from three separate sources by three museums early in the twentieth century, the [[Berlin Museums|Berliner Museen]], the [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology]], and the Metropolitan Museum, New York), Harper warned:
{{blockquote|By the time "hoards" or "treasures" reach museums from the antiquities market, it often happens that miscellaneous objects varying in date and style have become attached to the original group.<ref>''From the Lands of the Scythians''; special edition of ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' xxxii no. 5, 1975.</ref>}}

Such "dealer's hoards" can be highly misleading, but better understanding of archaeology amongst collectors, museums and the general public is gradually making them less common and more easily identified.