Ransacking is right. Ten massive commercial metal detecting rallies on the same farm in the decade since 2010!
But WHY? There’s only one possibility: they’re finding a lot. As one attendee said in 2014: “all I can say is what an event … I think last count there where 12 or 13 gold coins ranging from full staters, quarter staters, celtic silver, french gold . medieval gold, guineas and sov’s. a gold posy ring. not to mention a hat full of hammies … also part of a gold torc and an iron age dagger, the list could go on.” And as the organiser said in 2018: “Those detectorists who have been here before can testify the consistency of the fantastic finds these fields have yielded, and many at that!”
And yet … by 2018 only 23 artefacts from there had appeared in the PAS database! Is that OK with you dear Reader? Ten years of industrial-scale exploitation for commercial gain and oodles of knowledge theft? If so you’ll be pleased to know an eleventh event will be held there next September, but this time for a whole week! For £100 you’ll be able to “detect at your leisure, from dawn to dusk” for seven days – and be free to legally pocket all the finds and blatantly steal all the knowledge!
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Something like this, but for seven consecutive days from dawn till dusk. Unfathomable behaviour winked at by the British authorities.
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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2 comments
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09/02/2020 at 12:14
paulintheswimhotmailcom
It’s a scandal that this theft of our nation’s heritage is being allowed by the naivety of the authorities. The vast majority of the precious items that are being found are not going into the public domain. In effect, they are being stolen from all of us. Furthermore, they are not able to reveal their full story as their archaeological context is lost. The authorities MUST stop this plunder. It’s a national disgrace!
One single unearthed item can unlock great mysteries. For example, imagine how poor world history would now be if the Rosetta Stone had not gone into the public domain and had just been kept by one selfish individual.
09/02/2020 at 14:17
heritageaction
Indeed.
But sadly there’s no naivety involved.