Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past
21 November 2003 – 14 March 2004
Room 35
Exhibition closed
The first major national exhibition of British archaeology in
over 20 years, Buried Treasure: Finding Our Past will show
how much chance archaeological discoveries have revolutionised our
understanding of our past. The exhibition is a result of a unique
collaboration between The British Museum and four other major UK
museums in Cardiff, Manchester, Newcastle and Norwich. The
exhibition will travel to each venue after London to allow people
across England and Wales to view some of the most spectacular finds
of British history.
The exhibition will feature some of the country's most important
British treasures such as the magnificent Mildenhall tableware,
which will be shown in its entirety and will tour the country for
the first time and the iconic Lewis Chessmen which featured in the
first Harry Potter movie. But the key aim of the exhibition is to
celebrate the enormous contribution that the public has made in
uncovering history as well as the success of the Treasure Act and
the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The vast majority of finds in the exhibition have been uncovered
by metal detectorists who now account for 90% of all treasure
discoveries. Recent finds such as the Iron Age gold jewellery found
in Winchester and the stunning Bronze Age gold cup from Ringlemere,
Kent have revealed important new information about Britain's
prehistory. Responsible metal detecting and reporting of finds has
greatly enhanced our historical knowledge. It has enabled
archaeologists to examine the context of finds as well as the finds
themselves helping us to understand how they were used, their
ritual or social significance and why they came to be at a
particular site.
The exhibition also aims to challenge people's perceptions of
what constitutes 'treasure'. Although many of the objects in the
exhibition are exquisite examples of gold or silverwork or feature
precious gems, the seemingly lowliest object can be hugely
significant to understanding our history. Medieval pewter 'toys'
found on the banks of the Thames by the 'Society of Thames
Mudlarks', an amateur metal detecting group, have little financial
value but are important social documents and tell us a huge amount
about everyday lives in the Middle Ages. Tudor dress fasteners,
which tend to be found as casual losses, rather than on specific
sites, give us an insight into how people at the time wore their
clothes and what they considered to be fashionable accessories.
On completion at The British Museum, the exhibition travelled
to:
Sponsored by Anglo American and Tarmac
Image: A hoard of Iron Age torcs from
Snettisham, Norfolk