For many years we’ve been trying to “promote awareness and the conservation of the incomparable but often-threatened prehistoric sites of Britain, Ireland and beyond” and because of our particular preference we’ve always put a particular emphasis on stone circles.
Consequently, the above image used in an advert for a metal detector which appears in the latest edition of The Searcher metal detecting magazine hasn’t gone down very well with us. It may or may not be photoshopped, we’re not certain, but it’s awful for sure, showing someone metal detecting right in the middle of a stone circle. Even in Bonkers Britain where you can mine for artefacts to your heart’s content on 950,000 unprotected archaeological sites, you can’t do it at stone circles – so what the blazes were the editors of The Searcher thinking of? Who knows?
We await with interest to hear what excuses some of their colleagues concoct to minimise it, as they minimise everything bad that happens in their activity. Our betting is “whoops, administrative error, why make a fuss?” or perhaps they’ll take the standard “not us guv” line that’s taken about so many instances of bad behaviour “Don’t judge us by that. Only a very tiny proportion of detectorists are as stupid and uncaring about heritage protection as The Searcher’s editors”!
[Thanks to Paul Barford for tipping us off about this]
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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The Heritage Journal 
10 comments
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31/05/2014 at 20:24
Amanda Adams
Its a doctored pic of Castlerigg Stone Circle. Pic here http://www.historvius.com/castlerigg-stone-circle-1798/pictures/2246/
31/05/2014 at 21:10
Pat
Yes! Well spotted!
31/05/2014 at 21:40
Peter
You really need to study the physics of metal detectors and there limitations.
31/05/2014 at 21:58
Pat
As the article says – “We await with interest to hear what excuses some of their colleagues concoct to minimise it”…. and now we know….
It’s OUR fault for not studying the physics of metal detectors!
01/06/2014 at 11:55
Ken Brockworth
I’m not certain it is Castlerigg as the distribution of the stones is not right but the setting seems correct. It looks like it may have been doctored in some way though.
01/06/2014 at 19:26
Sandy
Look very much like the ring of Brodgar in the Orkneys looking out across the water as a backdrop.
02/06/2014 at 16:30
Amanda Adams
As I said earlier and if you go to the link posted – it is a doctored image of Castlerigg, i.e some stones have been ‘erased’ and the background altered to somewhere else. This is a faked image.
02/06/2014 at 18:32
Sandy
Why would anyone got to the effort to erase some of the stones and then alter the background to somewhere else. It doesn’t make sense. Although now I look at it, the recumbent stone to the left with the diamond tipped upright looks very much like Castlerigg.
02/06/2014 at 19:09
Nigel S
Why would anyone got to the effort to erase some of the stones and then alter the background to somewhere else.
Maybe it was to avoid being accused of portraying and encouraging a criminal act, which doing it at Castlerigg would be? But unfortunately for them, doing so advertised to the world that they KNEW it was a bad thing to do…
# idiotoiks
😉
03/06/2014 at 16:22
Pete D
If you look at the shadows cast by the man you can see the sun is at a 7 o’clock position but the shadows cast by the stones show the sun to be at 11’oclock so it has been a cut and pasted image made by photoshop or similar.