Cordoba Treasure

Iron Age, buried about 100 BC
Found in the Molino de Marrubial, Córdoba, Andalucia, Spain (1915)

This hoard of silver artefacts was deposited in the ground at a time when this part of Spain had been recently conquered by the Roman Empire. The hoard was found on the outskirts of the modern city of Cordoba, which was becoming an important Roman city around 100 BC. However, the new Roman ways of life did not immediately take over from old traditions. People did not quickly change the type of ornaments they wore, the houses they lived in, or the food they ate. Instead native Spanish and Roman things were used side by side.

The treasure, buried in a pit, includes a torc, eight armlets, the head of a brooch in the shape of two horse's heads, rough lumps of silver and other fragments. The coins and two lumps of silver were in the bowl with the rest of the objects around them. All the objects were made locally; Of the coins, 82 are from local native tribes, but 222 are Roman. The Roman coins show that the hoard was buried around 100 BC. Some of the objects are damaged and distorted. The coins and ornaments may have belonged to a local silversmith who had planned to melt them down to make new ornaments. Or could they have been a ritual offering?