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![Text Box: Metal Detecting and Archaeology in England:
ten years on.
Paul Barford
Several decades ago conflict arose between some British archaeologists (concerned about the conservation of archaeological sites) and those involved in the increasingly popular hobby of artefact hunting and collection with the aid of metal detectors. A conservation issue was countered with a civil liberties one, detectorists were claiming their right to collect artefacts, accusing the archaeologists of elitism and worse. In some areas however (Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in particular) there was a more useful form of dialogue between the two sides. A ground-breaking report ‘Metal detecting and archaeology in England’ did much to turn the tide of criticism with its positive approach to the possibilities of using metal-detected artefacts as a source of archaeological information. It ended the more strident calls for a banning of metal detecting from the more fundamental conservation-minded archaeologists and urged the bridge-building process which is now ongoing.
In 1997 that the first pilot schemes of the “Portable Antiquities Scheme” (PAS) were set up, expanding to cover all of England and Wales in 2004. The PAS is tasked with systematically recording archaeological objects found by the public, and strengthening links between metal-detector users and archaeologists. Some 2000 praiseworthy detectorists have annually been allowing their finds to be recorded, the resultant database now contains 100 000 items. The PAS has supported action taken against those looting protected sites and involved in illegal sales of antiquities. It is also engaged in a massive outreach and education programme - all of which stretch their current resources to the utmost.
The creation of the PAS has led to ‘bridge-building’ between archaeologist and detectorist. Many members of the profession have welcomed the Scheme, seen by many as a specialised institution charged with outreach to this milieu and therefore responsible for its success. Most archaeologists, mindful perhaps of the antagonism more direct approaches arouse, leave it to get on with ‘sorting out the metal detecting problem’, assuming it will be resolved in the fullness of time and if adequate resources are forthcoming..
There are a number of problems in the archaeological community adopting this rather superficial approach. In discussions of metal detecting over the last decade, a lot of attention has been focussed on the detectorists responsibly reporting their finds with the PAS. The pro-detecting lobby tries to give the impression that such laudable behaviour applies to the majority of detectorists, and admits that there is a “tiny minority” of incorrigible and careless individuals that “get the hobby a bad name”. What however is missing from the equation are overall numbers. It is totally unknown how many active detectorists or collectors of archaeological artefacts there are in the UK at present. The 1995 report estimated that in the early 1990s there were possibly some 30 000 detectorists. Other estimates suggest that the figures are currently more like 10 000. Whatever the true number, it is clear that seven years into PAS ‘outreach’, it is still only a relatively small proportion of English and Welsh detectorists who are co-operating with it.
Figures have been published by PAS suggesting that detectorists have been finding up to 400 000 objects a year. The 100 000 objects in their database therefore represents only a fraction of the more than two and a half million finds their figures suggest were removed from the ground during the period of its operation. It seems clear that the gap between what is wished for and what is actually being gained by this voluntary scheme is still wider than many people would care to admit. There are many artefact hunters operating all over the country who are not willing to record their finds with PAS, despite its efforts to reach them and the encouragement of their ‘recording’ fellow detectorists.
The massive scale of artefacts passing through eBay – apparently most of them unrecorded by PAS – is a constant reminder of the possible scale of the losses the archaeological resource is suffering to feed the worldwide antiquities market and fill scattered personal collections at home and abroad. For example, British artefacts are now turning up in some quantities in auction houses in new EU member Poland.
At the present time, due solely to a lack of recorded information, it is very difficult to asses the full scale of this activity and all its possible implications. Since the 1995 report there has been no official survey of the overall scale and nature of the phenomenon of artefact hunting in the UK, despite the changes that have taken place in that decade. This hinders any open and informed debate in the archaeological community and wider public:
on current government policies towards private collecting of and trade in archaeological artefacts taken from British soil,
the role of the use of metal detectors in this kind of artefact-hunting,
the legal exploitation of unprotected archaeological sites as a source of portable collectibles,
the way the archaeological community and the state deal with the very complex issues this hobby involves.
The inability to discuss these issues openly and on the basis of reliable information is clearly detrimental to any attempts to set this phenomenon in any wider setting in discussions of future directions of archaeology as a discipline, the strengthening relationship between archaeologists and the metal detecting community, public perceptions of the discipline and, above all, the survival and conservation of the archaeological resource for future generations to use.
We need to look at the long term physical effects on the archaeological resource of the unrecorded removal of many thousands of archaeological artefacts from their assemblages year by year, decade by decade at best distorting the picture. In global terms, to what extent are (“productive”) sites already known now being exploited by detectorists as a source of collectibles compared with new sites being discovered as a result of prospecting areas previously unexplored and added to the record so they can be protected? To what extent is the material coming out of the ground adding to the available information, and to what extent are the cumulative effects of this collection depleting the evidence available in the soil on as yet un-investigated sites?
Ignoring of the very real issues that quite clearly underlie this whole complex of phenomena can be viewed as nothing less than negligence of the archaeological community and its policy-makers. It represents an unwillingness to face up to the failure of current policies to come up with a holistic answer to the problems involved in this acceptance of virtually uncontrolled unrecorded artefact-hunting in Britain with little attention paid to its overall effects. It involves turning a blind eye to some serious issues and logical inconsistencies in our approach to the management of the British archaeological resource. These questions need to be identified and addressed to the satisfaction of all, rather than being swept under the political carpet. British archaeology urgently needs to study the overall effects (both positive and negative) of current policies on artefact hunting and collecting in the UK. Such an evaluation would not only be a benchmark of the current situation ten years after the 1995 report, but would provide reliable information on which to base a sensible future public dialogue about these issues and to guide future policy.
Reference:
C. Dobinson and S. Denison ‘Metal detecting and archaeology in England’ 1995 (Council for British Archaeology and English Heritage) [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/detecting/cont.html]](image2228.gif)
