Crundale Late Bronze Age Hoard

As promised in the last issue, here are further details of this large hoard.

On consecutive weekends in September 2003, a metal detectorist on farmland at Crundale made three scattered finds which suggested dispersal from a hoard in the vicinity. He reported these to Andrew Richardson, Finds Liaison Officer for Kent. Returning to the site in early December, he pinpointed and uncovered the hoard in a shallow pit just below the ploughsoil.

The hoard consists of 185 pieces of metalwork, comprising both fragments and largely complete objects. The pieces of cast copper ‘cake’ were mainly deposited in the bottom of the pit, with the other artefacts mixed above. These artefacts include rings and gouges, whole and fragmented razors, axeheads and spearheads, fragments of swords and daggers and cast copper cake fragments.

The socketed and looped axeheads, short lengths of sword and dagger blade and ‘cake’ are typical of late Bronze Age hoards from the south east. Traditionally described as ‘Founder’s Hoards’, they have been interpreted as representing collections of scrap metal stored by a smith and intended for recovery. This interpretation has been challenged recently (for example by Martyn Barber in Bronze and the Bronze Age). There are certainly examples of deliberate breakage and damage within the Crundale hoard that are hard to reconcile with a simple interpretation of ‘random scrap’. In one instance objects have been inserted into the socket of a broken axehead, which was then squeezed tight to hold them in. In another, several objects have been forced tightly into the socket of a spearhead. The impression is one of deliberate acts of breakage in order to put them beyond use, rather than objects broken or worn through everyday use. However, detailed analysis by specialists will be required to confirm this impression.

Whatever the case, the hoard is certainly important, not only because of its size, but also the large number of unusual items, including copper alloy rings with lead(?) cores. It is hoped that further fieldwork at the site will provide the find with a more detailed context.

Andrew Richardson

Image of the hoard found at Crundale

Close-up of some artefacts