Metal Detecting:
Numbers and Questions
British Archaeology in its January February 2012
issue has an interesting article in the Spoilheap
department entitled: “Metal Detecting, ban or befriend: the
evidence”.
This article looks at the effect of the Portable Antiquities
Scheme. “The premise of the scheme is
that voluntary regulations, free, informed advice and national recording of
metal detector finds are better for archaeology than laws which ban collecting.”
Raymond Karl an Austrian archaeologist provides some evidence in an article published in the Oct. 2011 issue of The Historic Environment:
Policy & Practice (“On the highway to hell: thoughts on the unintended
consequences for portable antiquities of
S II(I) Austrian Denkmalschutzgetz").
He compares two situations:
voluntary (England and Wales) and mandatory reporting with restrictions
(Austria). In Austria you must report
any discovery in two days and may not dig without an archaeology degree. In Austria only licensed archaeology graduates
can use metal detectors.
Some numbers to consider:
in Scotland where reporting is mandatory the number of treasure reports
remained stable over the past 15 years (200-300 annually). In Austria in the
same period the number of reports trailed off slightly. There is a marked difference after the PAS
came into effect in 1997. In England and Wales numbers rose from 20 to over 800
annually. In 1998 the number of all reports in England and Wales rises to over
1,000. Within two years of introduction,
the number went to 10,000. Then over 20,000 early in 2000 and over 40,000 in
2009. “In 2010 there were 48,749
portable antiquities reports (all voluntary) detailing 90,099 finds; additional
figures for treasure reports for 2010 were not yet available.”
This raises all kinds of questions. What is behind the enormous difference in reporting numbers. And one answer that isn't found, with voluntary reporting how many artifacts are "disappearing" into various private collections , some for cash.
In Austria it seems that before the law was introduced most
reports were by amateurs. Now they have
gone underground. Karl estimates that there
are 2,000-3,000 metal detector hobbyists. His research shows that most metal
detector enthusiasts would like their hobby to be legal so they can report
their finds not so they can sell their finds.
Spoilheap concludes
open reporting should be adopted, but adds that “The law-breaking, abusive
minority of English and Welsh detectorists, however, should be exposed and
stopped. They poison the atmosphere for everyone.”
I wonder how these numbers add to the question of metal
detecting and archaeology in Ontario.
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