A Hoard by Any Other Name? Near-Synonyms and Word Choice in Archaeological Discourse

In archaeological discourse, mainly in the field of numismatics, many terms are used to describe groups of valuable artifacts found in a specific archaeological context. This study discusses the main synonymous nouns comprising the semantic field of the word hoard, with the aim of determining the differences between the lexical items and presenting a comprehensive rendering of their meaning. The results of this study stress the pragmatic, context-sensitive stance of synonymity, highlighting the importance of word-choice in the interpretation of archaeological finds.