Rubbish or ritual? Medieval treasure in the Thames

As long as people have lived beside it, the River Thames has provided a useful means of disposing of unwanted rubbish.

Yet a huge range of important and clearly valuable objects of all dates that have been found in the river.

Archaeologists have no doubt that many prehistoric objects, such as fine Bronze Age swords, were deliberately thrown in, perhaps as “votive offerings”.

John Clark, formerly curator of the Museum of London’s medieval collections, investigates whether the same explanation can be true of Anglo-Saxon, Viking and medieval “treasure in the Thames”.