by Gordon Kingston, Heritage Action
The Derrynaflan Chalice – Image by Kglavin (Wikimedia Commons)
One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day, nor does one shining, glorious hoard make up for all the information lost, or heritage sold.
It’s been interesting to observe the goings-on in Staffordshire, from an Irish viewpoint. Unlicensed metal detecting has been illegal here since 1987 and oddly, it was the finding of an item worthy of the hoard, the chalice at Derrynaflan, and the subsequent demand of millions for it, that prompted the legislation in the first place. What’s the name for that? Grabbing something that already belongs to someone else and demanding money to give it back? Kidnapping? A recent Irish Times article quotes Professor Muiris Ó Súilleabháin, senior lecturer in the school of archaeology at UCD:
“Although many individuals were highly responsible, it was not unknown for archaeologists to discover holes dug into monuments in search of potential treasure pinpointed by metal detectors… It had been a close shave (referring to The Supreme Court decision against the awarding of €5.5 million for the chalice) and it was in this atmosphere that the 1987 National Monuments (Amendment) Act was passed as a stop-gap initiative to prevent a free-for-all.”
In the wake of the publicity given to this Staffordshire discovery, however, it was only a matter of time before someone here in Ireland would start to mutter, about similar opportunities being prevented by our “prohibitive” legislation:
“I think that 90 per cent of people who go metal detecting do it because of a love of history and not for monetary gain… I think there would be a lot more involved in Ireland were it not for the laws.” says an amateur treasure hunter in the same feature.
You know, I think that a lot of people would do a lot of things if they weren’t against the law, but then, that’s the point of laws. The good of the whole of society and so on. And this noble detector angle, with human nature being what it is? I’m sorry. We love a short cut, or an easy euro and as soon as the whistle blew there’d be spades flying into every cased ancient monument in the country. Where’d you get it history lover? Oh, in a field?
No. We might miss the occasional swallow, but the preservation of all of our resource is more important than that. Things, I think, are best left the way that they are.
“The bottom line here is that if you dig out a find from a site, you destroy part of the heritage of Ireland.”
– Eamonn Kelly, keeper of Irish antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/1003/1224255768813.html
The Heritage Journal 
44 comments
Comments feed for this article
08/10/2009 at 14:13
Jonathan Foyle
The hoard contains beautiful items, eloquent of metalcraft and self-presentation, with inscription/s that offer an insight into belief. But ‘It will redefine the Dark Ages’? (http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/). I don’t think so.
For one thing, it would seem that no discussion has been made of the inevitably depleted condition of the archaeological context of the hoard after it was pulled from the ground by a non-archaelogist metal detectorist (that is, an amateur treasure hunter).
The result was a media furore and a broad influx of instant funding to secure the finds for a display that presumed a London location (why not Mercia- an improved Lichfield Cathedral treasury maybe, re: St Chad? This would at least have a local and chronological relevance). This, it became regarded as celebrated Metropolitan treasure, and revered as an oracle, if Anglo-Saxon society could be explained by it.
Of course, we know already that the Anglo-Saxon elite wore gold. But the idea of elite is fleeting- we change our minds on which burials and finds are royal, re: Prittlewell, because we don’t usually inherit anything like enough evidence to know. We can expect gold and garnets of this sort of quality, know that battles were fought in Mercia and understand that treasure was looted in battles as explained in Beowulf.
So this hoard has its work cut out if it’s going to redefine the Dark Ages, because we don’t know when exactly this the treasure was made, who for, where or when it was looted, or when it was lost.
The answer to the last question will be less easy to answer still because the finder took it upon himself to pull it from the ground rather than alert authorities. Behind the glitzy celebrations of this blingfest, it might have made it clearer that treasure hunting is destructive, and carries responsibility. It shouldn’t result in a display of massive financial reward and weeping academics. Not weeping for the reason of celebrating the quality of metalwork, in any case. But for the loss of evidence, and the general failure to celebrate the evidence for early medieval lives through resources other than treasure.
08/10/2009 at 20:41
Gordon
Thanks for taking such trouble to comment. There’s a lot in there that makes a lot of sense. While it does feel a bit unusual to be reflecting in a positive fashion on Irish Monuments legislation, after all that’s gone on here over the last few years, in this case I do think that we’ve got it right.
09/10/2009 at 12:04
Vernon
I live in the South East of England, where thankfully the authorities are of a completely different opinion to that of the author.
How can the slow destruction of items in the soil, through deeper ploughing and the chemicals, used by farmers, be better than finding, preserving and display in a museum ?
Our museums are full of finds by dog walkers, farmers, and yes metal detectorists.
Long may this be so.
09/10/2009 at 18:30
Gordon
Ok. Perhaps I might just ask a few questions about what you’ve said:
1. Deeper ploughing hardly came in yesterday. What evidence do you have for implying that all items in the soil are subject to “slow destruction”? How did the Staffordshire hoard survive this long underground?
2. What proportion of finds discovered by metal detectorists end up in museums? What proportion end up for sale on Ebay? What proportion end up in private collections, never to be seen by anyone else?
3. Who do you think owns the objects found? The detectorist? The landowner? From my perspective they and the information to be found from their contexts are the property of the public as a whole, so how can they be offered for sale, or their contexts deliberately destroyed by non-professionals digging them out of the ground? (See Jonathan Foyle’s response above) Why should the state buy back what already belongs to it? Surely there are more important things to spend taxpayers money on, when they could just be confiscated.
4. Do you think the average detectorist is, like Plato’s philosopher ruler; unable to “willingly tolerate an untruth”, “self-controlled and not grasping about money”, or is he like the rest of us, unable to resist the lure of an easy few quid? What type of saints do you think they are? A state which allows such a degree of looseness in the handling of its own precious objects also, inevitably, allows our human nature to work to its unfortunate parameters and is surely negligent. A situation is created in which the objects are seen as valuable for what they can be sold for, rather than for what can be learned from them and, in effect, the lustre of the objects themselves is privileged over whatever information would have been available from their contexts.
5. If you were to find something would you keep it, or would you call an archaeologist immediately to have it properly excavated? Would you then renounce any financial reward for it?
09/10/2009 at 19:15
Senua
The South East of England you say. Would that be Kent I wonder. If so then the people plundering a Roman site in Kent aren’t giving their finds to a museum. They are selling them on ebay. They are also very proud of the fact and have openly admitted that they are keeping the site secret and are not going to let the archaeologists know. Unfortunately what they are doing is legal as so far no gold or silver has been found but the information that site could give us on Roman Kent has been destroyed because of greed. Personally metal detecting should either be banned or licensed and all finds no matter what should be give to local museums. No financial rewards should be given at all. If those who metal detect truly care about history all their finds would be given to museums free of charge.
09/10/2009 at 19:48
Vernon
Gordon, interesting response.
My thoughts :
1. Don’t know how it has survived thus far and nor does anyone else, yet.
The plough is responsible for scratching, cutting and scattering.
Copper and bronze coinage is affected by loss in the field, observe and compare the same, that has been extracted from the noble Thames .
2. No idea and I suggest neither do you.
3. Your perspective, quite.
Otherwise, not relevant I am afraid.
The law is quite clear on the loss of items – which I suggest, you are very aware of.
4. Very romantic but again a viewpoint of no great measure.
Of course, Human beings vary considerably, we must not assume that anyone of any profession is above Human frailties, wouldn’t you say ?
5. I have found something which was offered to the local Museum who said thank you, but we have a selection already.
I still have it, but yes I would sell it, should circumstances force it.
The offer was for zero cost to the museum.
Back to the point in hand, are you REALLY saying you would prefer that everything would be either left in situ, thus slowly deteriorating or at a push, be extracted by qualified archaeologists only ?
Because A) There are not enough to go round & B) who will pay for that experience ?
The truth is the Museums would be far less interesting, informative and thus less visited, ensuring less and less funding from the powers that be.
09/10/2009 at 20:30
Gordon
Hi again Vernon. If Museums won’t take your finds, then what are you out there searching for? Are you single-handedly trying to save the archaeological resource from its ‘slow deterioration’?
Thanks for the comment Senua. A better example than I could have come up with.
09/10/2009 at 20:35
Vernon
Good Evening Gordon.
I didn’t say Museums nor finds, I spoke in the singular !
Yes, I am jolly glad to have saved my item from the rigours of modern farming.
Naturally, you are too….
09/10/2009 at 21:35
Gordon
My apologies Vernon. I had assumed, from your strong defence of the activity, that you were a metal detectorist. Well done for your selfless attitude. Perhaps you were unaware that, as I initially suggested, most detectorists are cut from a different cloth and never even report any of their finds? The struggle against the rigours of modern farming must surely be a time-consuming one.
09/10/2009 at 21:57
Vernon
That’s ok Gordon – your initial assumption was correct.
I have been a detector user for more than 30 years, albeit with many gaps in between.
Your suggestion that most finds are not recorded is a bold one, but is it accurate ?
In particular, where is the evidence for that claim ?
There seems to be a gross exaggeration in both number of and success of metal detectorists, amongst the anti-detecting brigade.
I can give you some comfort in that we are not continually finding gold and silver, Celtic, Roman and Saxon. Far more likely, is the tin foil, broken plough, pull ring and shotgun cartridge.
Ask my wife, I am continually the victim of her wit at dinner parties.
Part of my ‘portfolio’ of land is a beautiful Saxon Church, with accompanying fields, which has provided some hammered but generally has WWII bullets and the aforementioned items.
The finds are going into a display cabinet within the Church, and the local school children are excited about it. As I may add, are the parishioners.
The other thing to consider is that modern detectors will rarely go much deeper than 10″ and that is in perfect conditions with a top flight machine.
10/10/2009 at 09:30
Gordon
Good Morning Vernon. Is there any chance you’d consider stopping your activity? It would be illegal, without a licence, where I live.
Regarding your question about finds, I can direct you to the artefact erosion counter on our website. The figure used, of 10,000 detectorists is, as we say, deliberately conservative relative to documented evidence. If you have a problem accepting the amount on the counter, compare the number of detectorists to the number of finds reported to PAS. Have a large number of detectorists never found anything? A quick glance at Ebay may prove otherwise.
http://www.heritageaction.org/?page=heritagealerts_metaldetectingartifacterosioncounter
10/10/2009 at 10:58
Vernon
Morning Gordon.
No, no chance, sorry.
With regard to the counter, it is purely hypothetical and without any grounding in fact. Which is a shame because exaggerated claims from either me or you, doesn’t help the rotting finds in the ground really, does it ?
I repeat again – is it better to let items of cultural importance remain hidden and likely to be lost forever, thus learning nothing or have the chance to see these items (& conserve them) ?
The Portable Antiquities Scheme is one source, http://www.ukdfd.co.uk is another and preferred.
Your argument is with eBay – give them a call and discuss your problem with their listing. While you are about it, have a chat with Messrs Sotherby’s, Christies and Bonhams.
Detectorists in the main, find the rubbish that our ancestors dumped in the fields. Your fears that you are missing out is unfounded.
Here is a fact for you – the past 35 years or so has seen an incredible leap forward in our understanding of how people lived in the past. Without detecting, much of this would still be unknown.
Which is why we should really be paid for our time whist we are out detecting.
Ha ha.
It is the weekend, we have to grab a chuckle where we can, eh Gordon !
10/10/2009 at 11:31
Dennis
Are you a typical metal detectorist?
In complete denial that most detectorists don’t report what they find, believing they must take things for themselves as a public service even though no-one has asked them to, and saying you wouldn’t stop even if the law told you to?!
Here’s another question:
Would you favour the abolition of the Treasure reward system and the outlawing of fresh artefact sales and private retention and the donation of all reward amounts to children’s hospices?
Presumably the answer is yes if you aren’t interested in personal benefit.
10/10/2009 at 11:34
Vernon
No, I haven’t said I would disobey the law at all.
Are you the one in denial, here ?
No I wouldn’t be in favour of removing the treasure act.
Are you in favour of leaving items to rot, or not ?
10/10/2009 at 13:30
Alan2455
You crack me up Vern.
IF there are places where rescue archaeology is needed it should be planned, targetted, communal, structured – and carried out under the auspices of EH, NOT random, opportunistic, universal, entrepreneurial and self-serving. It should involve more than just metallic objects, be restricted to where it’s needed and no-one should lay personal claim to the objects or take them home or flog them for profit. OK?. If you’re so darn keen to help, write to EH offering your services. BUT DON’T DO IT ANYWAY, FOR PERSONAL SATISFACTION AND TRY TO PRETEND YOU’RE DOING IT AS A FAVOUR TO OTHERS!
So you aren’t in favour of abolishing Treasure rewards eh? There’s a surprise.
10/10/2009 at 13:38
Vernon
Afternoon Alan.
Do you always shout ?
Who would pay for all this ‘rescue archeology’ then ?
And if you are in any doubt that items of significant interest are in jeopardy, the home page to this site, mentions the danger of deep ploughing.
I am not pretending to say anything, Alan old bean.
Merely stating that it is a hobby that I have and do, enjoy.
With the added benefit that people in my village are learning far more from it, than they would from the attitude, you obviously wish to propagate. !
10/10/2009 at 13:53
Alan2455
“Who would pay for all this ‘rescue archeology’ then”
That’s easy.
Ten thousand metal detectorists would work for free as they already do it purely for the love of history.
And the archaeologists could be financed from the £1.5 million per annum we pay the PAS archaeologists for pretending they’re not contemptuous of the activity.
10/10/2009 at 14:25
Vernon
Well it’s been fun.
So I will just say Cheerio !
10/10/2009 at 14:44
Alan2455
“So I will just say Cheerio!”
Very wise!
You seem to have completely run out of legs to stand on.
11/10/2009 at 08:48
The Editor
Since the last comment here, there has been a flurry of submissions, fluctuating mostly between furious and sarcastic. I should point out that this is not a forum, but a journal and while we welcome comments there is a point beyond which they are no longer helpful.
07/04/2010 at 13:26
Rigit
Well that wasn’t the story told on the Easter Monday’s program FINDING THE STAFFORDSHIRE HOARD, in fact it was interesting to see that when Terry informed the local FLOit was he that then had problems getting the British Museum to get involved.
I know this posting will get removed but thats the norm here.
07/04/2010 at 22:46
heritageaction
Feeling rejected, unwanted, unloved? What you really need is a shoulder to cry on.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be sarcastic. All the best, mate. Nice to see we’re being noticed 😉
01/06/2013 at 08:12
Peter
He was given a four month suspended sentence and ordered to carry out 270 hours of community service at Bath Magistrates Court after admitting the thefts.
The court had heard that Vessey had a history of stealing historical artefacts from digs and had been jailed for a similar crime for 15 months in 2001.
This time around he was spared a custodial sentence after the court heard that he was no longer working as an archaeologist and had been dealing with illness and the death of his parents.
Evidently there have been similar cases over the years where individuals were dismissed and no legal action had taken place .
Probably just a very isolated incident ,a rouge archaeologist , I doubt if this sort of thing has ever happened before .
.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2333461/Raider-Lost-Vases-Archaeologist-jailed-15-months-stealing-17th-century-relics-selling-eBay.html#ixzz2Uwg4MY3F
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
01/06/2013 at 08:34
heritageaction
We’re not archaeologists so have no remit to defend them but we aren’t prepared to go along with the accusation, made here by dozens of detectorists that the level of wrongdoing between the two groups is in any way comparable.
As for “a rouge archaeologist , I doubt if this sort of thing has ever happened before” we’ve covered that previously…
https://heritageaction.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/the-heritage-sectors-rouge-element/
06/01/2014 at 12:58
andy
I have to say that some of the comments on hear regarding metal detectorists stink, let us get it straight Gordon, who says that these treasures belong to the public? if they did they would not be purchased they would be just be confiscated, I also say that Pricks like yourself and the brain dead idiots that go along with your ,im taking my ball home because I don’t like detectorists have just done more damage in one posting to relations between detectorists and arkies than any other article I have read including the crap that fell out of Mick Aston,s mouth, another point I would like to make is that Arkies also take finds for themselves from digs (Fact) FLO,s have been caught stashing unrecorded finds made by detectorists (FACT) and tosspots like you would have never seen the staffs hoard had it not been for Terry Herbert and the farmer who owned the Saxon treasure, and YES he did own the treasure on HIS land NOT your land or my land. HIS LAND FACT. otherwise why was he paid for it ? I think we should be more concerned about Time Team trashing sites with jcb diggers and uncovering human remains from a place where they have been laid to rest, believe it or not they are still someones relatives, Would you like me to go and dig your family up and disturb them from their place of rest? and lets be honest, most of the up and coming Arkies only took the course because it is one big pot smoking, hippy orgie, I for one will never trust one again and I know for a fact that lots in the hobby are going the same way, shame on you Gordon and co, you are a disgrace FACT.
06/01/2014 at 13:08
heritageaction
🙂
11/01/2014 at 20:40
Big Mick
Wankers
12/01/2014 at 05:35
heritageaction
Not that you’d understand Mick, but you help our case! 🙂
13/01/2014 at 00:07
Big Mick
Your so blinkered and out numbered that you can’t understand you lost this battle years ago, your like dinosaurs and can’t change with the times, best part is we all know your fate as its well documented. Roll on next week when I will be detecting a fantastic Saxon site and the best part is its perfectly legal and thank goodness it will never change here in the UK.
13/01/2014 at 03:56
heritageaction
The only “battle” is for legal regulation to curb widespread misbehaviour and cultural damage. The fact you aren’t calling for exactly the same thing says much about you, not us.
13/01/2014 at 23:15
Big Mick
We already have “legal regulation” however those that that operate outside of this regulation and code of conduct would do so regardless of what laws are passed. Why don’t you speak of the positive side of metal detecting such as how much pleasure the Staffordshire Hoard has brought to all who have seen it in all its splendour?
The way I see it, who are we supposed to be protecting our heritage for? God only knows what the future will bring, I would suggest that here in the UK the biggest threat is not from metal detectorist, I’m sure you must have seen the UK news today, yes the real enemy is the greedy oil companies that are about to embark on the biggest threat we have ever seen, yes hydraulic fracking. When you compared this to metal detectorist digging around in the top 6 to 8″ makes any impact you feel we may be causing insignificant.
Now that’s the battle we should be joining forces to fight against!!
14/01/2014 at 06:49
heritageaction
We already have “legal regulation”
No we don’t. The vast majority of archaeological sites are completely unprotected.
“those that that operate outside of this regulation and code of conduct would do so regardless of what laws are passed.”
Not true. That’s always said. Indeed half the “legal” ones say they would then break the law. It’s all macho tripe. If the penalties are right, people will behave.
Fracking etc…. citing other problems is no defence against anything. Frackers could claim there are worse things than fracking. No, detectorists should behave, simple as that. It’s not even hard, there’s no excuse.
14/01/2014 at 23:36
Big Mick
Like I stated earlier, Your so blinked only considering your opinions to be correct. Well nothing will ever change on this site until you are prepared to accept that most of us also have an opinion and you need to learn not to shoot down anyone that’s not in agreement with your way of thinking.
I have read through loads of your posts and to be honest the way you respond is extremely rude and totally un-necessary.
I will be out in the fresh air enjoying my detecting on Sunday, what will you be doing?
15/01/2014 at 03:42
heritageaction
“Well nothing will ever change on this site until you are prepared to accept that most of us also have an opinion”
Indeed. Trouble is, our opinion is that legal regulation is needed in order to end the misbehaviour of the majority of your colleagues. Which alternative “opinion” are you proposing we “accept”?
15/01/2014 at 22:40
Big Mick
“misbehaviour” only in yours and a handful of others opinion. The majority would say we are doing the country a service and are enjoying viewing the wonderful artefacts we have saved and shared with the masses.
I think enough has been said, we are both entitled to have our own and very different opinions, so I see no point in going over and over the same ground as its not a constructive debate and will just bore the pants off anyone reading it.
16/01/2014 at 03:35
heritageaction
How is not reporting finds a public service?
16/01/2014 at 07:20
Big Mick
“Not reporting” yet another unrelated snipe at my previous post, but that’s all you can do isn’t it, man are you boring or what?
My detector is charged and ready to go, so I won’t waste anymore time on here, I’m off out to do something useful.
Bye Bye
16/01/2014 at 07:44
heritageaction
“Not reporting” yet another unrelated snipe at my previous post
No, the reference to non-reporting was very clear, see below: “the misbehaviour of the majority of your colleagues“.
Not that logic matters does it?
16/01/2014 at 19:54
Big Mick
I will end as I started “WANKERS”
17/01/2014 at 01:32
heritageaction
QED
17/01/2014 at 07:01
Big Mick
So you have deleted the BBC NEWS story as it put detectorist in a good light. your acting like a little Hitler deleting everything positive about detectorists that gets posted.
Why not leave this link for others to see a different side of the story so they can make up there own mind about what good is being done here in the UK.
The link http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-25748576
17/01/2014 at 07:17
heritageaction
No, we removed it as pasting the whole thing instead of putting as link was inappropriate.
Finally, our thesis is not that all detectorists do nothing right but that most of them misbehave. We’re entitled to say so. They do.
17/01/2014 at 07:25
Big Mick
Finally, our thesis is not that all detectorists misbehave but that most of them do things right. We’re also entitled to say so.
17/01/2014 at 07:56
heritageaction
Indeed. But your thesis is false and based on bravado. You don’t know ten thousand detectorists or how they behave.
Nor do we, but we don’t need to as PAS’s figures are clear and the archaeological authorities and the Government know we are right.
Constant claims to the contrary by detectorists convinces only detectorists (and in truth, very few of those). Calling us “WANKERS” doesn’t make it not so. Goodbye.