The Portable Antiquities Scheme has recorded over 936,000 objects. Hurrah! But here’s a screenshot from our site taken at 4.09 pm yesterday afternoon….

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five million

Some people say the Counter can be safely ignored: “Ludicrous” (say Detectorists), “Lacks credibility”  (Head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme), “based on nothing but presumptions and inaccuracies” (Detector retailer), “should be viewed with contempt”  (National Council for Metal Detecting).

Maybe. But all it is saying is that on average each active detectorist finds 0.69 recordable items a week (a lot less than the 0.99 that CBA/EH estimated previously) and that the great majority don’t get reported. If true, it’s a lot of knowledge loss, and a shame. Bad, aren’t we!

As you were. Nothing to see here.

…. almost literally, for it is now a week later [actually, ten days to be precise] and the Counter is showing nearly 7,000 more recordable artefacts dug up. Bear in mind that during that time PAS has only recorded a derisory number.

It’s massive theft – of knowledge, from you and everyone else. Can it possibly be right? Please support compulsory regulation of artefact hunting to secure maximum public benefit. (If you come across ANY artefact hunter who opposes it, ask yourself why.)