The destruction and deposition of metalwork is a widely recognised phenomenon across Bronze Age Europe. Weapons were decommissioned and thrown into rivers; axes were fragmented and piled in hoards; and ornaments were crushed, contorted and placed in certain landscapes. Interpretation of this material is often considered in terms of whether such acts should be considered ritual offerings, or functional acts for storing, scrapping and recycling the metal. This book approaches this debate from a fresh perspective, by focusing on how the metalwork was destroyed and deposited as a means to understand the reasons behind the process.
To achieve this, this study draws on experimental archaeology, as well as developing a framework for assessing what can be considered deliberate destruction. Understanding these processes not only helps us to recognise how destruction happened, but also gives us insights into the individuals involved in these practices. Through an examination of metalwork from south-west Britain, it is possible to observe the complexities involved at a localised level in the acts of destruction and deposition, as well as how they were linked to people and places. This case study is used to consider the social role of destruction and deposition more broadly in the Bronze Age, highlighting how it transformed over time and space.

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• The Prehistoric Society Research Papers
• The Prehistoric Society Research Papers
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Author
• Abstracts
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Foreword, by David Fontijn
• 1. Piece offerings: approaches to the destruction and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork
  • A peace offering and a piece offering
  • Destruction and deposition of Bronze Age metalwork
  • Research aims
  • South-west Britain as a regional case study for the destruction and deposition of metalwork
  • Terms of destruction
  • Outline of the volume
• 2. Making sense of the pieces
  • What is intentional damage?
  • Material matters
  • Ancient or not? The role of corrosion and patina
  • After deposition
  • Metalwork wear analysis
  • Experimental destruction
  • Categorising damage: Destruction Indicators and a Damage Ranking System
  • Applying the Damage Ranking System
• 3. Burnt, broken and buried: the Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age, c. 2450–1500 BC
  • Assessing the evidence for Chalcolithic–Early Bronze Age destruction and deposition in south-west Britain
  • Daggers in south-west Britain
  • Rolled gold
  • Beyond breaking point
  • Complete and incomplete axeheads
  • Conclusions
• 4. Selective destruction: the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1500–1150 BC
  • Ornaments and ornament hoards
  • Rapiers, spearheads and places
  • Palstaves and palstave hoards
  • Destruction and deposition in occupational contexts
  • A biography of destruction: the South Cadbury Shield
  • Conclusions
• 5. Mass destruction and minor destruction: the Late Bronze Age–Earliest Iron Age, c. 1150–600 BC
  • Mass destruction: the Late Bronze Age c. 1150–800 BC
  • Late Bronze Age associated finds and hoards
  • Late Bronze Age single finds
  • Late Bronze Age occupational contexts and scatters
  • Late Bronze Age conclusions: networks of practice
  • Minor destruction: earliest Iron Age c. 800–600 BC
  • Earliest Iron Age token axeheads and axehead hoards in Cornwall and Dorset
  • The Kings Weston Down hoard, Bristol
  • Earliest Iron Age conclusions
• 6. Destruction and deposition of metalwork in south-west Britain in its wider context
  • Reduction and production of metalwork
  • Exchanging fragments
  • Death and destruction
  • Destruction close to home
  • Metalwork destruction and deposition in the landscape
  • Selection and destruction across hoards in time and space
  • Conclusions: interpreting destroyed metalwork and deposits of meaning
• 7. Final fragments – what do the pieces tell us?
  • Destruction and deposition of metalwork in south-west Britain
  • Technical knowledge, materiality and destruction
  • Performing destruction and deposition
  • Biographies of destruction
  • Why destroy and deposit things?
• Bibliography