Snettisham Hoard

Snettisham Hoard

The Hoard in the British Museum
Material	Gold
Created	70 BC
Discovered	Snettisham in 1948-73
Present location	British Museum Norwich Castle

The Snettisham Hoard or Snettisham Treasure is a series of discoveries of Iron Age precious metal, found in the Snettisham area of the English county of Norfolk between 1948 and 1973.

The hoard consists of metal, jet and over 150 gold torc fragments, over 70 of which form complete torcs, dating from BC 70. Though the origins are unknown, it is of a high enough quality to have been royal treasure of the Iceni.

In 1985 there was also a find of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials buried in a clay pot in AD 155, the Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard. Though it has no direct connection with the nearby Iron Age finds, it may be evidence of a long tradition of gold- and silver-working in the area. This apparent tradition extends further into the Roman period in Norfolk, as evidenced by a later hoard of metalwork known as the Thetford treasure.

The finds are deposited in Norwich Castle Museum and the British Museum. Probably the most famous item from the hoard is the Great Torc from Snettisham, which is now held by the British Museum.

The hoard was ranked as number 4 in the list of British archaeological finds selected by experts at the British Museum for the 2003 BBC Television documentary, Our Top Ten Treasures, presented by Adam Hart-Davis.

Similar specimens are the Sedgeford Torc, found in 1965, and the Newark Torc, found in 2005.

See also

• Celt
• Britannia
• List of hoards in Britain