Moving away from the ritual deposition: hoards from the Viking Age, Least Cost Paths and reused Roman Roads

Abstract

Discussions on Viking Age silver hoards in North West England have been dominated by analysis of the material compositions of the hoards. Despite a multi-century research legacy concerning the material composition of the Viking Age silver hoards, the relationship of the hoards to their transport and depositional locations has been understudied. Past analyses of the hoards' material composition have indicated that some or all of their components were likely transported overland across the Pennines to their depositional points in the North West. The relationship of the hoards to the early medieval overland transport links is studied in this paper with an optimal pathways modelling process in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The modelling process incorporates multiple cost of vertical movement functions to simulate human agency when moving through the landscape, error inherent in the Digital Elevation Model creation process, and preferential movement on re-used Romano-British roads. As a result of this analysis, it is suggested that the median travel time from early medieval period routeways to the hoard deposition points is 16 minutes. Over half of the hoards may have been placed under 25 minutes' walk from the routeways. This finding supports an interpretation that the hoards are concealed deposits intended for retrieval, rather than ritual deposits that were not intended for retrieval.Commented [SL1]: Some substantial grammatical editing needed as often words are missing, or word choice is a little off so it disrupts the flow of argument or obscures meaning. Commented [SL2]:This needs reworking a little bit to better reflect the paper as a whole.Commented [SL3]: Some of this can be moved into background to avoid too much repetition.