Cordoba Treasure facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cordoba Treasure
Silver torc from the Cordoba Treasure as displayed in the British Museum
Material	Silver
Size	16 cm diameter
Created	100 BC
Present location	British Museum, London
Registration	P&EE 1932,0706.2

The Cordoba Treasure is a famous collection of ancient silver items. It is also known as Tesoro de Córdoba in Spanish. This amazing treasure was found near the city of Córdoba in Spain in 1915. It was created during the Iron Age, a time when people started using iron tools and weapons. Today, you can see the Cordoba Treasure at the British Museum in London, where it has been on display since 1932.

How the Treasure Was Found

The Cordoba Treasure was discovered by accident in 1915. It was found in a place called Molino de Marrubial, which is a suburb of Córdoba, Spain. Someone had buried the silver objects in a pit long ago to keep them safe. However, for some reason, the original owners never came back to get them.

Later, an American art collector named Walter Leo Hildburgh got the treasure. He then sold it to the British Museum in 1932. This treasure is special because it is one of the few Iron Age hoards from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) that is kept in a museum outside of those countries.

What's in the Treasure?

The Cordoba Treasure is from the Iron Age, probably buried around 100 BC. Even though this part of Spain was becoming part of the Roman Empire at that time, the style of the jewellery looks like Celtic art. The Celts were an ancient group of people who lived across Europe.

The treasure includes many interesting silver pieces:

• A large, round torc. A torc is a stiff necklace or collar. This one has ends shaped like double cones.
• Eight armlets. These are bracelets for the arm. They have cool animal designs carved into them. This is called zoomorphic decoration, meaning "animal-shaped."
• A brooch shaped like two horses' heads. A brooch is a decorative pin.
• A cone-shaped bowl.
• Over 300 coins. These coins help experts figure out when the treasure was buried. Eighty-two of them were made locally, and 222 were made in a Roman city.
• Two lumps of silver and other small items like rods and ingots. Ingots are blocks of metal, usually shaped for easy storage or transport.

Why Was It Buried?

We don't know for sure why the treasure was buried and never found again. One idea is that the owner planned to melt down the large amount of silver later. Maybe something happened that stopped them from doing this.

Another idea is that the treasure was a votive offering. This means it was left as a gift to gods or spirits, which was a common practice in ancient times.

See also

In Spanish: Tesoro de Córdoba para niños

Gallery

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  Silver armlets from the treasure

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  Silver bowl in which the coins were found

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  Silver torc, typical of Celtic art from Iberia at this time

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  Silver armlets, a brooch and other items from the treasure

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  Celtic and Roman coins from the treasure