In praise of treasure hunting?

[Epictetus]

I saw an interesting article on Reuters about Britain's "treasure hunting" law.

I was surprised by this statistic:

In 2010, over 90,000 archaeological objects were reported to museums across the country -- a 36 percent rise on 2009 -- through what is known as the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

[Medicus matt]

Metal detectorists will do what they do anyway. At least, with PAS support, some of them (I'd like to think it was the majority) are logging their finds.
The PAS Treasure report for 2008 has just been published:-
http://finds.org.uk/documents/2008.pdf
No. 114 is the erotic knife handle mentioned in the Reuters article.
No. 105 is a very unusual brooch in the form of one of those nice 3rd/4th century Spanish hunting knives.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I concur with Matt and hope they are the majority, the ones who report their finds.
The diverstiy of modern chemicals in the soil could well make many of the items found
now unrecoverable in another decade or two!.

[Sean Manning]

And lets face it: most European museums are overflowing with nails, belt buckles, decorative studs, and other small metalwork. For most of the old things found by detectorists, science is done its work once the typology and findspot are logged.

[Epictetus]

There have been some stories in Sweden about poor finder's fees. Here is one where the discoverer was given 10% of the estimated value, and he was angry enough to go to the press.

Then doesn't Spain claim all it's old treasure galleons, no matter where they are discovered in the world? I guess each country goes about this differently.

[Robert Vermaat]

At least the UK HAS a PAS scheme. I'm not so sure there's anything remotely like it on the European mainland. Detectorists over here often keel 'found' objects in their treasure chests for years. This happened with writing tablets found near Fort Vechten (Fectio) as well as with the first objects found at the Harzhorn battlesite in Germany for instance..

[Sean Manning]

Then doesn't Spain claim all it's old treasure galleons, no matter where they are discovered in the world? I guess each country goes about this differently.

That is different. I believe it is international law that wrecks of warships belong to the state that commissioned them. So an 18th century warship gets more protection than a merchant ship, which is completely arbitrary.

[PhilusEstilius]

There is a Spanish Ship just a few hundred metres off shore near the Royal Naval Air Station Cauldrose in Cornwall the place has been given the name Dollar Cove, from the situation that a few silver coins wash ashore in wild weather. It has 16 tonnes of Spanish Dollars on board but no one has got them yet for it is such a wild place, I was in the RAF at the time at Cauldrose and my friend and I used to go there weekends and chance the tide but only ever got modern coins.
The beach can be sand one year and Pebble rocks the next with a massive sand shift going over this wreak all the time, many attempts have been made over centuries but no one has got them yet however if they do they belong to Spain.

[Dan Diffendale]

There's a relevant discussion in this issue of Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, all freely available:
http://pia-journal.co.uk/index.php/pia/i...ew/pia.331

David Gill, in particular, attempts the difficult task of estimating the percentage of reported vs. unreported finds, and concludes, "These figures suggest that either there are many detectorists who find nothing, or that there is substantial under-reporting".

[PhilusEstilius]

I think that David Gill should try to understand that with the PAS system and metal detecting there are things that do not warrant reporting, or is he simply trying to create a mountain from a mole hill.

[Lucius Aurelius Lurco]

To resurrect this topic a bit:
The truth is the vast majority of finds by detectorists are modern coins, random items like keys, wire bits, sunglasses, nuts, bolts, nails and toys. And, of course let's not forget the bane of coil swingers everywhere, the pull tab and bottle cap.
Most of what is found is summed up in one word: crap. For every really nice find are 1000 or more bits of foil and bottle caps. In Europe and the UK there's a couple of thousand years worth of bits of garbage scattered around and mixed in with the interesting stuff, which must drive detectorists there mad with frustration. Then there's also the junk left from numerous smaller wars and two World Wars to contend with as well, some of which can actually still be dangerous (who wants to dig up a live shell or grenade? How about a mustard gas canister?).
I've seen posts where a UK or European mainland dectorist finds a single Roman coin or part of a hammered penny and they are pleased as punch, becasue such items aren't common finds.