[For more on Dr Hardy’s conclusions put “Sam Hardy” in our search box].

If you Google “knowledge loss”+”metal detecting” you get lots of hits but almost all from us or Paul Barford and only one from PAS. That begs a question: how come it’s us not them highlighting the scandal of massive knowledge loss due to non-recording (especially now Sam Hardy has shown there are far more detectorists and ergo far greater knowledge loss than previously thought)?

But at long last a PAS employee (FLO Adam Daubney) has just said (in a Public Archaeology Twitter Conference): “in terms of knowledge-loss, non-reporting presents a far greater threat to the archaeological record than illicit activity.”

Quite. So wouldn’t now be an ideal moment, instead of celebrating 20 years since PAS was set up, for those who lead it to also come clean and inform the Government that the project hasn’t reversed the destructive reality and needs re-thinking? Twenty years of giving the taxpayer and heritage stakeholder a different impression is surely enough?

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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