Understanding Buried Hoards | Real exam ielts reading passage 2026 | Real exam ielts reading test 2026 with answers |

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Understanding Buried Hoards

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-16, which are based on Passage 1 below.

What exactly is a hoard? Broadly speaking, a hoard is a group of items kept together, perhaps gathered all at once or gradually over time. Even though a typical image of a hoard is a pot full of gold coins, it need not be a collection of metal objects. Hoards that have survived over the centuries are the ones which were either lost or deliberately thrown away. Many of those discovered have been split up, spent or melted down, leaving no traces behind.

People have been finding hoards since the practice of burying them began. In the past, they were dug up by farmers while working the soil and clearing land, or were exposed by fallen trees or eroded riverbanks. Some of the places where hoards have been found seem to have held particular significance throughout centuries. Bronze Age (around 3000 to 1200 BC) objects appear in later hoards, and the Romans in particular (Britain’s rulers 43 to 410 AD) seem to have found ancient artefacts intriguing: they buried fossils and prehistoric weapons alongside their own items. In Britain’s historic town centers today, the past is revealed when buildings are knocked down or rebuilt. In these urban areas, hoards are usually found by archaeologists excavating sites before they are redeveloped, whereas many recent discoveries in rural areas have been made by amateur metal-detector users.

Each newly found hoard raises questions. Who did it belong to? Why was it not recovered? The actual contents of hoards have much to tell us when studied. The act of hiding a group of objects in a pot in the ground or behind a wall often keeps them in good condition. In contrast to single objects that have been accidentally dropped on the ground. These are often later damaged as fields are ploughed. Hoarded objects may be rare survivals: things that would normally be melted down for recycling or coins that would have been recalled by the authorities had they not been hidden.

Archaeologists have come to realize, however, that the key to understanding a hoard is usually held not in the group of objects itself but in its context; that is, in the information held in the soil immediately around it and evidence of human activity in the wider landscape. Where the precise locations of hoards have been investigated further, their stories are enriched with detail. Although metal items may be thrown up to the surface during farming activities, archaeological remains are often waiting to be discovered below ground.

Why were hoards buried? Some smaller hoards were certainly accidental losses, or so-called ‘purse hoards.’ This may be the case for smaller groups of coins found together, sometimes still with the bags that had contained them. Larger hoards may have been emergency hoards hidden in times of conflict, when people who owned precious objects had to flee suddenly, or felt their homes were under threat.

A combination of conflict and economic insecurity may explain why so many hoards were buried in late third-century Britain. Instability in the Roman empire led to rapid inflation and the official coinage decreased in silver content, to the point where the coins had little intrinsic value. When the coinage was eventually reformed, older coins may have been unacceptable for official payments, so coins were discarded, or hoards were not recovered.

Concealing coins and valuable items would have been more common before ordinary people had access to banks. Savings would need to be kept secure and hidden, and many hoards clearly started off this way. The Beau Street hoard of over 17,5000 coins found in Bath in 2007 is composed of eight lots of money that appear to have been sorted and then stored under the floor of a Roman building. The hoard could represent savings made by a wealthy individual or business, but the reason why the hoard was not recovered is uncertain. It is also important to remember that not all hoards found in the ground had been buried there: many hoards from Roman villas were hidden within walls that later collapsed.

There are other reasons for the burial of hoards. A strong theme that runs through prehistory is the practice of ‘deliberate deposition’ – that is, putting something underground or under water, which was perhaps a way of releasing it to the gods. There are no records to allow us ever to know the exact significance of prehistoric rituals but some later offerings are accompanied by legible inscriptions. Such offerings may have been made on one occasion or built up over a long period of time.

Seemingly unusual rites were often simply part of everyday life in the past. In Iron Age Britain (800 BC to the Roman Invasion), for instance, chosen objects were carefully placed in pits and ditches in settlements as well as at shrines, possibly marking the beginning or end of use of a building, or defending significant boundaries. In some societies, a public destruction or donation of valuable items enhances the status of the person giving them away. These ceremonies may be carried out when there is a change of leader, to create social cohesion in a time of uncertainty or to make significant events in the community – and some hoards may be the result of such ceremonies.

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Questions 1-8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1? In boxes 1-8 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE: if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE: if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN: if there is no information on this

1.      People typically think of a hoard as consisting of money

2.      In the past, most hoards were discovered in wooded areas

3.      The Romans took little interest in objects from earlier civilizations

4.      Nowadays hoards in British towns and cities are generally discovered using metal detectors

5.      Items in hoards are often better preserved than single lost objects

6.      Archaeologists have realized that certain soil types cause less harm to buried objects

7.      The Beau Street hoard is the largest collection of coins discovered in the UK

8.      The precise meaning of prehistoric rituals has become clear following recent discoveries

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Questions 9-16

Complete the notes below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer. Write your answers in boxes 9-16 on your answer sheet.

Why were hoards buried?

•   accidental loss: in ‘purse hoards’, the **9 ....................**are often found alongside their contents
•   loss of value: coins in late third-century Britain had less and less 10 .................... in them
•   greater security:
• money found in Bath in 2007 may have been 11 .................... before being hidden
• hoards from Roman villas were often placed in 12 ....................
•   rituals:
• ‘deliberate deposition’ in prehistory involved people placing objects in 13 .................... or below the ground
• offerings are sometimes found with 14 ....................
•   common rites:
• in Iron Age Britain important 15 .................... were protected by burying objects
• ceremonies in which items were destroyed or donated sometimes indicated a new 16 .................... within a community

 

Questions 1–8 (TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN)

1. TRUE

The passage says the typical image of a hoard is a pot full of gold coins. This shows people usually think of hoards as money.

2. NOT GIVEN

The passage mentions hoards being found by farmers, trees falling, or erosion, but it does not specifically say most were found in wooded areas.

3. FALSE

The passage states the Romans found ancient artefacts intriguing and even buried fossils and prehistoric weapons. So, they were interested, not uninterested.

4. FALSE

It says in towns and cities hoards are usually found by archaeologists, while metal-detector users find many in rural areas. So, the statement is incorrect.

5. TRUE

The text explains that hoards are often well preserved because they are deliberately hidden, unlike single lost objects that get damaged.

6. NOT GIVEN

There is no mention that archaeologists identified specific soil types that cause less damage.

7. NOT GIVEN

The Beau Street hoard is described (17,500 coins), but it is not stated to be the largest in the UK.

8. FALSE

The passage clearly says we cannot know the exact significance of prehistoric rituals, so the meaning has not become clear.

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Questions 9–16 (ONE WORD ONLY)

9. bags

Explanation: "sometimes still with the bags that had contained them."

10. silver

Explanation: coins had decreasing silver content.

11. sorted

Explanation: coins "appear to have been sorted and then stored."

12. walls

Explanation: hoards from Roman villas were hidden within walls.

13. water

Explanation: objects were placed "underground or under water."

14. inscriptions

Explanation: offerings are sometimes accompanied by inscriptions.

15. boundaries

Explanation: objects were buried to defend important boundaries.

16. leader

Explanation: ceremonies often happened during a change of leader.

 
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