The Snettisham Hoard or ''Snettisham Treasure'' is a series of discoveries of Iron Age precious metal, found in the Snettisham area of the English county of Norfolk between 1948 and 1973.

Iron age hoard

The

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or 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 ...

consists of metal,

jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

and over 150 gold/silver/copper alloy torc fragments, over 70 of which form complete torcs, dating from BC 70. Probably the most famous item from the hoard is the Great Torc from Snettisham, which is now held by the British Museum. Though the origins are unknown, it is of a high enough quality to have been royal treasure of the Iceni. Recent

electron microscopy An electron microscope is a microscope that uses a beam of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. As the wavelength of an electron can be up to 100,000 times shorter than that of visible light photons, electron microscopes have a hi ...

research by the British Museum reveal the wear patterns in the torcs, the chemical composition of the metal, and the cut marks which reduced many of the torcs into fragments. One hypothesis suggests the deliberate destruction of valuable items was a form of votive offering. The finds are deposited in Norwich Castle Museum and the British Museum. The hoard was ranked as number 4 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

documentary, ''

Our Top Ten Treasures ''Our Top Ten Treasures'' was a 2003 special episode of the BBC Television series ''Meet the Ancestors'' which profiled the ten most important treasures unearthed in Britain, as voted for by a panel of experts from the British Museum. Productio ...

,'' presented by Adam Hart-Davis. Similar specimens are the Sedgeford Torc, found in 1965, and the Newark Torc, found in 2005, as well as the six torcs from the Ipswich Hoard found in 1968-9.

Romano-British hoard

In 1985 there was also a find of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials buried in a clay pot in AD 155, the

Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard The Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard is a collection of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials, found during the construction of a house in the Norfolk village of Snettisham in 1985. The hoard is thought to be the working stock of a jeweller, bur ...

. Though it has no direct connection with the nearby Iron Age finds, it may be evidence of a long tradition of gold- and silver-working in the area.''The Snettisham Roman Jeweller's Hoard'' by

Catherine Johns Catherine Johns (born 1941) is a British archaeologist and museum curator. She is a specialist in Roman jewellery, Romano-British provincial art, and erotic art. Career Johns worked for many years, until 2002, as the Curator of Roman Britain ...

(British Museum Press, 1997)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Norfolk Museums Service
Objects of historical interest in Norfolk Archaeology of Norfolk Archaeological sites in Norfolk Prehistoric sites in England Treasure troves of the Iron Age Treasure troves of Roman Britain Treasure troves in England Torcs Prehistoric objects in the British Museum Romano-British objects in the British Museum Ancient Celtic metalwork 1948 archaeological discoveries 1973 archaeological discoveries 1948 in England 1973 in England Hoards from Iron Age Britain

Iron age hoard

Romano-British hoard

See also

References

External links