Bronze Age Hoards – Wednesday 31st July 2024

Bronze Age Hoards – Wednesday 31st July 2024

Clearly people had the same idea in many of the buried hoards. So with the axes that were purposely broken, one indication of that to me is the actions of a man/men who preferred to destroy and bury the axes, than have them get into and be used by, other hands.

They could have melted them, but didn’t. I would think back then, a man’s axe would have been quite a precious object to him, just as it would be to his son when passed on to him.

But they didn’t melt them, which indicates that wasn’t an option and if they wanted to destroy them and hide them, that indicates they preferred to do that than have them melted by somebody who wanted to take them from him/them.

Could copper have become difficult to obtain in places after centuries of use? They didn’t have mining machinery, the authorities may have ordered seizing of metal objects for some reason. Armour? Weapons?

And of course when people with weapons can force their way into your home and seize things, they will often take additional things for their own selves, without telling the authorities/employer. So if that became a practice, then anything of value would be hidden in the same buried hoard with the metal items.

It doesn’t seem to have been a religious action, it seems an action of resentment of people who deemed themselves entitled to take what didn’t belong to them. Some of these items could have been in families for centuries.

The gold, hidden inside an axe and buried, never to be seen by its owner again. That speaks volumes to me.

It wasn’t possibly safe to be found with it, nor could it be left anywhere. He chose to part with it and bury it, than have it get into another’s hands.

So it seems to me, they didn’t want their items to be taken, as is, or for scrap to be repurposed.

Fiona MacLeod (C)