Editing Hoard (section)

== Classification ==
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[[File:Tesoro de Villena 04.JPG|thumb|320px|[[Treasure of Villena]], 1000 BC, the biggest prehistoric gold hoard in Western Europe. Discovered in 1963.]]
Hoards may be of precious [[metals]], [[coin]]age, [[tool]]s or less commonly, [[pottery]] or [[glass]] vessels. There are various [[Categorization|classifications]] depending on the nature of the hoard:

A '''founder's hoard''' contains broken or unfit metal objects, [[ingot]]s, casting waste, and often complete objects, in a finished state. These were probably buried with the intention to be recovered at a later time.

A '''merchant's hoard''' is a collection of various functional items which, it is conjectured, were buried by a traveling merchant for safety, with the intention of later retrieval.

A '''personal hoard''' is a collection of personal objects buried for safety in times of unrest.

A '''hoard of [[looting|loot]]''' is a buried collection of spoils from [[Raid (military)|raiding]] and is more in keeping with the popular idea of "[[buried treasure]]".

'''Votive hoards''' are different from the above in that they are often taken to represent permanent abandonment, in the form of ''purposeful deposition'' of items, either all at once or over time for [[ritual]] purposes, ''without intent to recover them''. Furthermore, votive hoards need not be "manufactured" goods, but can include organic [[amulet]]s and animal remains. Votive hoards are often distinguished from more functional deposits by the nature of the goods themselves (from animal bones to diminutive artifacts), the places buried (being often associated with watery places, burial mounds and boundaries), and the treatment of the deposit (careful or haphazard placement and whether ritually destroyed/broken).

Valuables dedicated to the use of a deity (and thus classifiable as "votive") were not always permanently abandoned. Valuable objects given to a temple or church become the property of that institution, and may be used to its benefit.<ref>C. Johns, "The classification and interpretation of Romano-British treasures", ''Britannia'' 27 (1996), 1–17: see especially pp. 9–11</ref>