Paper short abstract:

This paper details recent excavations at the site of the Late Bronze Age Broadward metalwork hoard and discusses the surprising evidence uncovered about the hoard’s depositional context and the long tradition of human activity at this place.

Paper long abstract:

In 1867 a large hoard of Late Bronze Age metalwork was found during drainage and water management in a field known as "Lower Moor" at Broadward Hall, on the Shropshire-Herefordshire border. The hoard has subsequently lent its name to a complex of metal weapons dominated by the distinctive Broadward-type spearheads. In the summer of 2010, the authors and Richard Bradley carried out excavations at Broadward in an attempt to locate the hoard site. This paper will detail some of the results of the excavations, which revealed evidence for a long history of human activity, predating and postdating the deposition of the hoard. This in turn raises interesting questions about factors that may have influenced the selection of particular places for metalwork deposition during the Late Bronze Age and the afterlife of such locations.

As well as the significance of the place, this paper will also consider the fallibility of memory in relation to the 1867 discovery of the Broadward hoard. Which county was it really found in; how many excavations actually took place; at what depth was the metalwork really found; what was found with it and how many items were there in the Broadward Hoard?