The Cordoba Treasure, or ''Tesoro de Córdoba'' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, is the name of a major

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

silver hoard found on the outskirts of the city of Córdoba, Spain in 1915. The entire treasure was purchased by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in 1932, where it has been on public display ever since.British Museum Highlights
/ref>

Discovery

The hoard of silver objects was found by chance in 1915 at Molino de Marrubial, a suburb of the city of Córdoba in the province of

Andalucia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

, Spain. The treasure had been buried in a pit for safe-keeping, but was never retrieved by its original owners. The Cordoba Treasure eventually came into the possession of the American art collector

Walter Leo Hildburgh Walter Leo Hildburgh (1876-1955) was an American art collector, sportsman, traveller, scientist and philanthropist. Early life and education Hildburgh was born in New York in 1876 into a family that had arrived in America earlier in the nineteen ...

, who sold it to the British Museum in 1932. The treasure is one of the few Iron Age hoards from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

to be in the collection of a museum outside

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Description

The hoard dates from the Iron Age and was probably buried around 100 BC. Even though this part of Spain had recently been conquered to become part of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

, the style of

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

reflects Celtic aesthetic traditions. The silver treasure includes a large circular

torc A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some had hook and ring closures and a few had ...

with terminals in the form of double cones, eight armlets with

zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...

relief decoration, a

brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with enamel or with g ...

in the shape of two horses' heads, a conical bowl, over three hundred coins, two lumps of silver and other miscellaneous objects including rods and ingots. The

coins A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

enable archaeologists to date the treasure, as 82 of them were locally made and 222 were minted in a Roman city.

Reason for burial

It remains unclear why the hoard was never recovered by the person or people by whom it was buried. The large amount of

silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...

in the treasure could have meant that its owner planned to melt it down at one stage, but for some reason was unable to. Others have suggested it could have been a

votive offering A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

, following native practices.

Gallery

Image:Cordoba Treasure (2).JPG, Silver armlets from the treasure Image:Cordoba Treasure (1).JPG, Silver bowl in which the coins were found Image:Cordoba Treasure (5).JPG, Silver torc, typical of Celtic art from Iberia at this time Image:Cordoba Treasure (6).JPG, Silver armlets, a brooch and other items from the treasure Image:Cordoba Treasure (4).JPG, Celtic and Roman coins from the treasure

Bibliography

*Megaw Ruth and Vincent, Celtic Art: From Its Beginnings to the Book of Kells, 2001 *M. Lenerz-de Wilde, 'The Celts in Spain' in The Celtic World (London and New York, Routledge, 1995) *I. Stead, Celtic Art, British Museum Press, 1996

References