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Crossrail not a new route?!
Wood found during excavation work for Crossrail could be evidence of a 3,500-year-old Bronze Age transport route through London, experts believe. Archaeologists examining a site in Plumstead have been searching for the pathway, which ran along the same route of the new rail link in east London.
“Crossrail’s Lead Archaeologist Jay Carver said: “We know from other sites nearby that this area was probably crisscrossed by a network of pathways. As excavation works for the Plumstead tunnel portal got underway our archaeologists uncovered several wooden stakes and at least two that appear to have cut marks from a metal axe. Although we haven’t identified an actual track way yet, the timbers are similar to those used to make the track ways and certainly show that people were in the area exploiting the woodland. This is a promising find as we continue our search for evidence of a Bronze Age transport route along where London’s newest railway will run.”
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Fantasy Fiction
A well-known detectorist has just launched a book (Google “book”, you’ll find it). He says it is dedicated to his fellow artefact hunters without whom “our knowledge of our heritage would be a very bare boned entity indeed“. Blimey. So all those archaeologists and historians have contributed very little to our knowledge of the past. Someone should do something.
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Mythbusting?
On the subject of artefact hunting we are told ad nauseam that applying any sort of regulation to the hobby will instantly cause an explosion of nighthawking and that the British laissez faire attitude towards portable antiquities ensures looting is far less here. Not according to this map from “Looted Heritage” it doesn’t!
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The Heritage Journal 
8 comments
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13/10/2012 at 16:51
Paul
Re the mythbusting article, i’m not sure where they get the info from on the looted heritage site. I was interested to see what made up the 23 incidents for the UK. You can click on the number and then dig deeper into what makes up the 23 and it includes all manner of things such as;
Vicar Catches a metal thief
Damage to the Rothko painting in the Tate
Renoir added to the FBI’s top ten art crimes
HMS Victory Scandal?
Memorial plaques seized in Scrap Dealers
Turkish sarcophagus discovered in Geneva
And other articles not even related to the UK
Not sure how this was put together but regardless of the arguments surrounding nighthawking, the information is not very useable as some form of benchmark for the overview of looting of antiquities.
13/10/2012 at 18:18
heritageaction
You are quite right, the reported incidents add up to an inadequate sample in terms of both quantity and quality. On the other hand, the map doesn’t suggest that the “regulation causes nighthawking” mantra is true, which was the only point we were making.
It doesn’t take much research though to show that the mantra is groundless, and a fabrication. Why would people nighthawk and risk major punishment rather than adopt a legally imposed requirement for best practice? It makes absolutely no sense.
13/10/2012 at 19:59
Paul
The map doesn’t suggest anything at all as it is in fact, totally useless which is a shame, as someone put time and effort into it as a project but then populated it with junk information that correlates to nothing. I suppose a road map of the UK doesn’t suggest that the “regulation causes nighthawking” mantra is true either.
13/10/2012 at 20:23
heritageaction
It’s in the early stages, people are invited to contribute to it. But as I said, it “doesn’t suggest that the “regulation causes nighthawking” mantra is true, which was the only point we were making.”
The fact that regulation doesn’t cause nighthawking is so obvious it’s hardly worth discussing, yet it’s trotted out endlessly by detectorists (not the ones that record their finds, obviously).
14/10/2012 at 13:02
Paul Barford
Paul, as it says quite clearly on the website if you look at it, the information is submitted by members of the public. If you are a member of the public, you and any other reader of the Heritage Action blog feel that what is there is not giving a full picture of what is happenning (looting-wise) in the British countryside, you can submit a report to help flesh out the picture. There have been quite a number of nighthawking cases reported in teh UK press in recent months which the website readers should know about.
To note a report of nighthawking go here:
https://heritage.crowdmap.com/reports/submit
15/10/2012 at 16:45
Paul
Paul, perhaps members of the public are populating the data but someone needs to ensure that it is not being filled up with rubbish as it currently is. and who is checking for duplicate entries?
And who is checking that the content is actually looting? Damaging a painting at the Tate is not looting is it?
If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well imo.
15/10/2012 at 18:51
Paul Barford
Well, as I say if you look at the actual website and perceive what it is trying to achieve, I do not think it can be termed “rubbish”, because that would be to disregard the purpose of the project. Yes, it is moderated. Their point is that the museums are the endpoint of the process of the trade, of which the digging stuff out is the beginning, this reflects the notion that “the real looters are the collectors”, with which I am sure you’ll be familiar.
But then as i say, if you think the job is not being done properly by those reporting information to be included, why not flesh out the information by reporting some yourself?
15/10/2012 at 20:36
Paul
Paul, are you really saying that Museums are at the end of the supply chain of looting that starts with people digging stuff up?. “The real looters are the collectors” – so museum collections are fueled by looting?. Perhaps in days of the antiquarian but not nowadays surely? As for reporting on their myself, it is not something I am that familiar with but you are renowned for your knowledge in this sector so I do hope you are contributing to it.