The Destruction of Wealth in Later Prehistory

Many of the most elaborate artefacts in later prehistory seem to have entered the archaeological record as deliberate deposits. Using the evidence of Bronze Age metalwork in north and north-west Europe, it is argued that the main forms taken by these deposits-grave goods, hoards, 'water finds' and single finds-were actually interrelated as variants of one underlying pattern entailing the voluntary discarding of property. Thus material in all four groups may have been deposited for rather similar reasons. It is suggested that some of these finds were the equivalent of grave goods but were deposited in other locations during periods of social competition and discontinuity. In such cases lavish 'votive offerings' are viewed as one way of building personal prestige, by analogy with Gregory's (I980) interpretation of the potlatch and similar institutions.