A Multidisciplinary Analysis of an Antiquarian Discovery: The Knaresborough 1864 Hoard of Late Roman Vessels

Abstract

This is the first comprehensive publication of the Knaresborough 1864 hoard of copper-alloy vessels and tools. A consideration of the circumstances of the hoard’s discovery, along with a biographical account of Thomas Gott (the man who deposited the hoard in the Yorkshire Museum), for the first time enables a case to be made for a findspot. A consideration of the vessels and other objects establishes the hoard as one of the most unusual assemblages of its kind from late Roman Britain. pXRF analysis of the vessels sheds light on their composition. Finally, a discussion of the hoard places it within the international context of late Roman deposition practices.