You can’t get much meaner than removing traces of a country’s history, obliterating it’s past. Yet, as the pandemic restrictions are eased, thousands are poised to pick up their metal detectors and do exactly that once again.
Yes, collectively they report many finds, and that’s a dividend. But how does that compensate a country for collectively failing to report the rest? To claim a small gain makes up for a large loss is the maths of a fool.
And yes, the PAS has insufficient staff to record everything, but is it so impossible for them to be at least SHOWN what is found? Of course not, a brief look at seven artefacts an hour by each Finds Liaison Officer to pick out anything significant is perfectly possible – and indisputably desirable.
So British historicide is entirely avoidable. But instead we allow it and have coined a phrase to make up for the fact, “responsible detecting”, meaning “the minority who report”. If only we were honest and talked of “moral detecting”, meaning “they who don’t obliterate history”. Calling a spade a spade would surely have done more good than more than two decades of pretending? Maybe, one day …
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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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The Heritage Journal 
2 comments
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10/04/2021 at 10:45
bneilb25
People like you are doing the damage by attacking the people who are totally loyal to the PAS.
Your ignorance, arrogance and self importance make my blood boil.
Who gives you the right to be both judge and jury.
Why don’t you concentrate on the positive. Every walk of life has a bad element and that does not define the rest.
Many thousands of people own guns and shoot for a hobby. It does not make them all robbers or murderers.
Grow up and start acknowledging the great work that detectorists do. Let the judicial system deal with the thieves.
Stop portraying your air of entitlement and obsession to what is not yet found and be thankful that there are people who will uncover things for you and the country to enjoy. But for now the reality is that most of us find crap but most importantly we find peace and tranquillity away from the plonkers like you.
10/04/2021 at 12:56
heritageaction
“Why don’t you concentrate on the positive”
Yawn. Shame you didn’t actually read what we wrote:
“Yes, collectively they report many finds, and that’s a dividend. But how does that compensate a country for collectively failing to report the rest? To claim a small gain makes up for a large loss is the maths of a fool.”
Had you done so, maybe you wouldn’t have launched into a string of vacuous ill-bred insults. Who knows?