10-25-2006, 01:54 PM
Jim,
please don't think me one of those "throw everyone in jail" types... First of all, I didn't mean "police" as in make it a top priority for the police, but, for example, give county archaeologists or similar (more) means to have some control over sites that they know are being targeted by detectorists.
And I'm afraid legislation does not necessarily equal overcrowded prison services etc. That seems to be more of a recent New Labour phenomenon... when talking about legislation, I was thinking more in the way of hefty fines - call me blue eyed, but I think the attraction of making 10 or 15 bob out of some artefacts you pick up on ebay becomes slightly less when faced with...say a £500 fine under heritage legislation - if you are caught (which brings us back to police-less policing :wink: )
As for the portable antiquities scheme, I'm aware of it... but the big issue is that it is ... voluntary... there is "legislation" (as stated on the PAS webpage) in the form of the treasure act - which means you must report any "prehistoric" metal assemblages, anything gold and silve and coin hoards (as far as I remember)... but there still is tremendous scope for important datable evidence that could lead to the reinterpretation of entire sites to fall through holes in the system...
The only problem is, that there doesn't really seem to be any straightforward solution to the whole bar anything draconian - which, as I think everyone will agree, won't go down well with the general public. So, what do we do?
C.
please don't think me one of those "throw everyone in jail" types... First of all, I didn't mean "police" as in make it a top priority for the police, but, for example, give county archaeologists or similar (more) means to have some control over sites that they know are being targeted by detectorists.
And I'm afraid legislation does not necessarily equal overcrowded prison services etc. That seems to be more of a recent New Labour phenomenon... when talking about legislation, I was thinking more in the way of hefty fines - call me blue eyed, but I think the attraction of making 10 or 15 bob out of some artefacts you pick up on ebay becomes slightly less when faced with...say a £500 fine under heritage legislation - if you are caught (which brings us back to police-less policing :wink: )
As for the portable antiquities scheme, I'm aware of it... but the big issue is that it is ... voluntary... there is "legislation" (as stated on the PAS webpage) in the form of the treasure act - which means you must report any "prehistoric" metal assemblages, anything gold and silve and coin hoards (as far as I remember)... but there still is tremendous scope for important datable evidence that could lead to the reinterpretation of entire sites to fall through holes in the system...
The only problem is, that there doesn't really seem to be any straightforward solution to the whole bar anything draconian - which, as I think everyone will agree, won't go down well with the general public. So, what do we do?
C.
Christoph Rummel
