The Ashwell hoard is one of the most extraordinary finds of deposited votive material from Britain in recent years. Its exceptional nature is explored here by a diverse team of contributors reporting on multiple scientific and interpretational aspects of the deposit and its landscape.
The hoard was found by metal-detectorists on farmland near Ashwell, Hertfordshire in 2002. After removing the objects from the ground, the finders alerted Burleigh who was able to secure the archaeological context as well as search for other, potentially related, finds. The hoard comprises 27 objects, some of which are in fragments: one silver gilt figurine, a four-part suite of gold jewellery (a pair of large disc brooches, a neck ornament made of two small discs linked via a chain, and an oval clasp-brooch bearing a large carnelian intaglio decorated with a lion), together with a number of leaf plaques (seven in gold and around thirteen in silver). An inscribed pedestal recording the name of the goddess Senuna and her dedicant Flavia Cunoris was found close to the hoard's findspot but its pertinence to the figurine is clear. The objects were deposited in a cloth bag in the third/fourth century a.d. and are interpreted as votive dedications at a ritual open-air site centred on a spring. The site was most likely dedicated to Senuna, otherwise unknown in the Romano-British pantheon, and the only deity mentioned on the plaques.
The volume is divided into two parts. Part 1 (chs 1–8) is concerned with the hoard and its content. A prominent position in the discussion of the assemblage is given to the conservation process and the scientific analyses conducted on the objects by the British Museum conservators (ch. 2). The observations on the craftmanship of the finds are of particular interest. Two aspects of note are the shear cuts and marks on the gold leaf plaques, and the unusual construction of the Senuna figurine, which is characterised by a hollow body with solid forearms and hands.
Jackson's description of the objects is enriched by the contribution of Martin Henig on the carnelian intaglio (chs 4 and 5) and the thorough discussion of the inscriptions on the pedestal and the leaf plaques from Ashwell, Barkway and Stony Stratford by Roger Tomlin (ch. 7).
The volume also contains a much needed re-discussion of two British deposits of similar content, the Barkway hoard found in 1743/4 and the Stony Stratford hoard recovered in 1789 (chs 5 and 6). These are later referenced as comparisons in the general discussion of the Ashwell hoard (ch. 8) which also benefits from the mention of some non-British comparanda in the analysis of the individual objects.
Part 2 constitutes the majority of the volume and is dedicated to the presentation of Ashwell and its immediate archaeological landscape. It is rare that the finding of a hoard prompts the extensive fieldwork and on-site analyses conducted here and this work has undoubtedly enhanced the research value of the hoard. Excavations were carried out in 2003–6 and are narrated by Burleigh in chronological phases spanning from the Bronze/Iron Age to the post-medieval period, until the intrusion of the modern plough (ch. 10). The excavated and metal-detected finds from the area are also discussed here and provide further insights on the functioning of the site, especially on votive preferences (ch. 11). Although Ashwell is well contextualised within the immediate archaeological area (ch. 12), its analysis alongside comparable British sacred sites is too brief (337–9) to allow it to be fully appreciated in the wider provincial sacred landscape.
The volume commendably offers a systematic discussion and finally a convenient reference to both the hoard and the Ashwell area, beyond the prolific literature published by the editors since the hoard's discovery. Further potential is offered by the opportunity, thus far little explored, to consider both the deposit and the sacred site at Ashwell in the wider context of deposited votive objects across the Roman world.
