Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 27(2)-Supplement: 71-83
Oliver DIETRICH
ABSTRACT
Single finds have so far often been neglected by archaeologists. This is partly based on a terminological fuzziness: the category ‘single find‘ is often not clearly differentiated from artefacts without information on find circumstances. The present paper used the Bronze Age socketed axes from Romania as a case study to show the potential value of real single finds (i.e. artefacts that have securely been found isolated). Mapping of single finds and hoards with socketed axes results in a complementary spatial patterning – regions with single finds and hoards exclude one another. This speaks clearly against an interpretation of single axes as lost objects. The find contexts of some single finds further sustain another interpretation, that of depositions of a single object.
KEYWORDS
Bronze Age, hoard, single find, socketed axe