The Dam Hill bronzes

摘要

The ‘Dam Hill’ bronzes are a Roman bronze jug (oinochoe) and shallow dish (patera) belonging to Trinity College, Cambridge, currently on long-term loan to the Fitzwilliam Museum. In the last twenty-five years evidence has come to light that shows the objects were dug up in the outskirts of Cambridge in 1709. This article traces the story of the gradual rediscovery of the origins of the bronzes, and introduces the eighteenth-century antiquaries who preserved their history for posterity. The eighteenth-century find is framed by a brief reconstruction of the modern restoration history of the bronzes and a short assessment of their place in the wider context of current understanding of the types of élite burials in which such objects are found.