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The history and significance of the Melsonby Hoard
One of the key questions for future research is determining why the Melsonby Hoard was deposited where it was and for what reason?
The range, quantity and high-quality nature of the hoard represents significant wealth in the Iron Age. It reflects the likely status and power of the person or community who buried it.
The very deliberate destruction of much of the metalwork, together with the apparent burning of some artefacts, could also offer clues as to the purpose of the deposit.
It is now clear that we have individuals who are incredibly wealthy and have incredible connections, probably across northern Britain, perhaps across Europe, that they can amass this amount of wealth and then destroy it and deposit it in a ditch.
A significant occasion
Destroying and burying such an extensive collection of material points to the marking of a significant occasion, while the evidence for burning may suggest it was related to a funerary pyre, perhaps for a cremation burial.
If so, we can speculate that the hoard might have been associated with the death of a high-status individual. Perhaps some of the objects were included in a funerary pyre, and then buried with the rest of the hoard in a separate event to mark the occasion – though no human remains were found.
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Connections across Europe
The hoard also offers clues about the nature of society in Britain during the late first century BC and first century AD and in particular challenges long-held views of the Iron Age of southern Britain being wealthier and more developed than that in the north. While most people in northern Britain at this time were farmers, the Melsonby Hoard emphasises that society included expert craftspeople and elites who could commission and obtain vast amounts of wealth and prestigious objects.
The workmanship, styles and sheer quantity of material included in this deposit reveals a community with significant wealth and power. They may have had connections across Europe – not something usually associated with northern Britain in the Iron Age.
The ability to destroy such material is also a conspicuous symbol of wealth and power.
This highly unusual hoard challenges assumptions of an impoverished northern British Iron Age and secures North Yorkshire as an area of significant power during the British Iron Age.
Indeed, the Melsonby Hoard emphasises the power and wealth of communities in northern Britain 2,000 years ago.
