It has to be said, not everything about the Staffordshire hoard glisters like gold….. Here’s a video of the Staffordshire Hoard Exhibition in Washington DC. It has been a massive success and it is hoped a tour of other US cities can be arranged. The Hoard will be the cover story of November’s National Geographic magazine, and documentaries and books featuring the artefacts are also in the pipeline. Council chiefs are hoping that this level of exposure will see the Hoard reach an audience of more than 300 million people in almost 200 countries. Makes yer proud to be British! A purely good news story in difficult times.
But not entirely so, unfortunately. The exhibition features a “dig pit” where you can search for treasure with a detector yourself just as if it is just fine and dandy even though it’s illegal in almost every country except Britain and there’s not a single word of caution about the fact that Terry Herbert, the finder of the Hoard, spent 5 outrageously irresponsible days digging the objects up, piling 244 bags of them on his kitchen table and causing immense damage to the context before he decided to tell archaeologists what he had found and brazenly claim his millions from the taxpayer.
Thus, 300 million people in 200 countries are to be given the message that where detecting is legal it’s fine to do it irresponsibly as you still get praised and rewarded and where it’s labelled as looting it pays handsomely.
Update 20 November 2011: It has been put to us in the Comments to this article that this is something that should be laid at the door of the American museum and is unlikely to have been the result of any advice or lack of it from the British end and we are happy to acknowledge that this may well have been the case.
Update 2 July 2014: On the other hand, the travelling exhibition going round Britain now has “hands-on interactives so you can have a go at detecting for treasure“. So it’s not just the Americans that have got it wrong!
7 comments
Comments feed for this article
18/11/2011 at 11:30
Mary Mercia
Can I just point out that this Dig Pit can only be found in the National Geographic Museum – there isn’t one in the exhibition in Birmingham and Stoke in the UK and I’m sure they wouldn’t be stupid enough to have one. The British team took the Staffordshire Hoard objects out to the US, the exhibition is all National Geographic’s work. Why blame the ‘the English’ for the American idea to have a dig pit!?
18/11/2011 at 12:20
Nigel
I take your point there’s no dig pit at the British end. Nevertheless, National Geographic would surely have taken reams of advice from the British on how to present the Treasure and if they weren’t told that such an approach would represent a disservice to conservation in both Britain and the country in which it was displayed then I think I’m entitled to suggest they should have been.
It might also be pointed out that PAS has a metal detecting game as an educational package for schools – so who advised National Geographic to have a dig pit – or more to the point didn’t persuade them not to – is a moot point!
19/11/2011 at 14:08
Helen
If an American Museum in America decides to have a dig pit I fail to see how the PAS or the British can be held responsible for this?. Your viewpoint is one of damned if you do, damned if you don’t. It is the Americans who run and control the museum so how can we be blamed for what and how they want to display objects?. Besides, who now controls the Hoard? I am pretty sure it is the BM and not the PAS. Helen.
20/11/2011 at 16:08
heritageaction
It is difficult to imagine that advice on exactly how the hoard should be displayed wasn’t sought.
20/11/2011 at 16:55
Helen
Well I am sure they would seek advise on how the hoard should be displayed so that all the pieces ‘fit together’ by type, relevance, date etc but what goes on in the envrironment of the display is something for the American museum to decide upon. They might decide it appropriate to have a McDonalds outlet close by to feed all those admiring visitors. I myself would think this innapropriate if I had control of a British museum but this is the good ol US of A and they do things a bit different to us on this side of the pond. I share your view that a dig pit with a metal detector is somewhat crass and tacky but to lay blame with the PAS is taking the biscuit in my opinion. Despite the failings of the PAS I don’t think it fair to lay blame with them for what goes on in an American museum.
Helen.
20/11/2011 at 17:21
heritageaction
Yes, I take your point (finally) and have amended the article accordingly. I trust that it is now OK?
20/11/2011 at 17:47
Helen
Thank you for taking on board my comments.
Helen