While in European archaeology, hoards are a much-discussed phenomenon equally important to graves and settlements, in China this find category has been receiving considerably less attention. Instead, object finds with no identifiable features surrounding them are usually assumed to be disturbed graves. Only late Western Zhou period ritual bronzes that appear in pits in the Central Plains are interpreted as treasure hidden in war times, but for other periods or other parts of China, such phenomena are not under discussion. In the mountains of Southwest China, however, object deposits are rather common; here, a number of pits containing complete objects arranged in an organized manner have been reported, yet, never discussed in detail. This paper suggests that most of these finds are not trash pits or disturbed graves but intentional deposits that deserve scholarly attention. This paper identifies several separate categories of object deposits connected with different ritual practices that can serve as a case study and point of comparison for research on deposition practices in other parts of the world.
