Abstract :
The paper discusses the siting of Middle and Late Bronze Age hoards in south Hampshire, Sussex
and parts of Surrey and Kent. It presents the results of fieldwork at the findspots of a hundred
metalwork deposits and discusses the most informative ways of studying them on the ground. On
the coastal plain the hoards were not far from occupation sites, and can be associated with
evidence of burnt mounds and occasionally with field systems. That was less common on the
chalk. Throughout the study area these deposits were normally located along watercourses, with a
special emphasis on small areas of ground beside, or overlooking springs and confluences. It seems
as if the deposition of bronze metalwork was governed by certain conventions. For that reason it
may be possible to predict the pattern of future discoveries
