Middle and Late Bronze Age Metal Tools from the Aegean, Eastern ...

definition of a hoard as “a group of objects, which was deliberately concealed on a single
occasion” is also unsuitable. 556
The evaluation of a hoard relies on four vital characteristics: find context,
composition, various purposes, and date. Chance discoveries and excavations in the late
19 th and early 20 th centuries have hindered our comprehension of hoards, for contextual
information is either lacking or not well published.
The latter explanation is problematic in that it excludes
the possibility of accumulating metal assemblages over time, i.e. ‘hoarding’ as a
continuous practice, even akin to ‘storing’.
557
Incomplete details regarding these
find spots have led to speculation about the purpose, method of assembly, and
chronological placement of certain caches. When interpretations of a hoard seek a
singular explanation, an assemblage’s intricate composition is often undervalued. For
this reason, tool kits have not been recognized in large, complex hoards.
The retrievability of a hoard plays a major role in its interpretation. Many hoards
were concealed between walls or under floors, which aided their preservation in the
archaeological record. Oftentimes it is unclear whether or not the individuals who
deposited such caches planned to reclaim them at a later point. Bradley notes that this
question of repossession is the most fundamental distinction in hoarding practices.
Hoards deposited in rivers, bogs, springs, deep pits and wells were difficult or impossible
to recover. Some retrievable hoards preserved traces of linen, indicating that the metal
contents were secured in a bag. Bits of fabric were reported from the Mochlos merchant
556 Needham 1999, 43.
557 See Harding 2000, 353 ff, for contextual problems with European hoards.
558 Bradley 1990, 5; Needham 1999, 43.
558
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