The Finding a Hoard Guidelines reiterated.

It’s no secret, most hoards are dug up without waiting for an archaeologist, always using the same false excuse:

Couldn’t contact an archie, couldn’t guard it, might have been stolen if left overnite, so ….”

Medway History Finders still haven’t admitted they did anything wrong at their 2014 Rally (see above!) and they even boasted that “The BM and our FLO said we done the best thing by taking out what we could” so it’s a worry they’ve announced another rally later this year as presumably if they find another hoard they’ll do the same thing. Accordingly, since PAS’s outreach to detectorists is akin to a newsletter from an adoring fan club and even the (widely flouted) Rally Guidelines merely say hoards should be dealt with in “an appropriate manner”, here are our Finding a Hoard Guidelines (something we’ve had on the Journal since 2011).

We know detectorists including Medway History Finders read what we write so the point of reiterating it after 5 years is to ensure they’ll have zero excuse if they ignore it. It would also be nice, wouldn’t it, if CBA et al who are far less sanguine than PAS about mass knowledge theft, reprinted it verbatim (or improved it if they can, which we doubt). Or will it be the usual scenario, “quite agree but not coming from thee”?

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting

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