Twin Hoards

Inspired ​by the newly discovered Late Bronze Age hoards from Budakeszi-Őzvölgy-tető, the book embarks on a journey through the Danube Bend in Hungary. It also introduces previously found hoards like those of Kesztölc and Esztergom-Szentgyörgymező, as well as individual and wetland artifacts from the area of the Buda Hills, the Pilis, and the Visegrád Mountains, which are evaluated from a European perspective from an analytical and theoretical point of view. The Budakeszi hoards A and B are unique due to their excavated context, which allowed the author to carry out a bottom-up analysis including traditional and new approaches in this field of research, such as the characterization and interpretation of the hoards’ context and content by metalwork production and usewear analysis. The two Budakeszi assemblages are rare examples of the so-called “duality phenomenon”, manifestations of the Bronze Age ritual acts, symbolism, and behaviors during hoarding. Their patterns of deposition are a key to understanding and re-interpreting previously discovered Ha B1 ritual hoards (1080–960 B.C.) from the territory of Transdanubia, West Hungary.