Fragmentation and Reassembly in the Iron Age: Tracing the biographies of heirloom objects
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 20/04/2019

The phenomenon of depositing heirloom objects is one that appears in different forms across Middle-Late Iron Age Britain. Objects such as shields, swords and cauldrons were seemingly well used over many years and sometimes curated for generations before being deposited in hoards or burials, for example. This practice raises a number of questions about the motivations behind depositing treasured objects, as well as the motivations behind curating them for such lengthy periods of time in the first place. In this paper, I will bring together evidence from Britain, also making use of Continental comparisons, to approach these questions from the perspectives of the long and visible biographies of ‘old’ Iron Age objects. Evidence for use-wear and repair will be combined with new evidence for the deliberate fragmentation and reassembly of composite objects to answer questions about why objects were curated and modified over time. I will argue that the visible biographies of old objects were important, allowing them to take on valuable mnemonic properties and making their eventual deposition all the more significant. 

Helen Chittock (Oxford University)