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Some Aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record in England and Wales

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Some Aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record in England and Wales Paul Barford 30 2020 Pàgs. 101-125 DOI 10.21001/rap.2020.30.5 Universitat de Lleida ISSN: 1131-883-X ISSN electrònic: 2385-4723 www.rap.udl.cat Some Aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record in England and Wales Algunos aspectos de la explotación impulsada por el coleccionismo de los registros arqueológicos en Inglaterra y Gales This paper addresses some issues relating to collection-driven Este artículo aborda algunas cuestiones relacionadas con la exploitation of the archaeological record (artefact hunting) in explotación del registro arqueológico impulsada por la búsqueda England and Wales. It looks at who the collectors involved are de restos arqueológicos en Inglaterra y Gales. Se examina quiénes and why they do it, how they go about finding and searching sites son los coleccionistas involucrados y por qué lo hacen, cómo van for collectables, and what they do with them. A brief overview of a encontrar y buscar yacimientos con el fin de recuperar objetos, the UK online trade in dug-up antiquities is also given, and the y qué hacen con ellos. También se ofrece una breve perspectiva response of British archaeology to the phenomenon. The effects of general del comercio en línea de antigüedades desenterradas en el the introduction of new legislation (the 1996 ‘Treasure Act’) together Reino Unido y la respuesta de la arqueología británica al fenómeno. with a dedicated and centralised recording scheme for finds made Se discuten los efectos de la introducción de una nueva legislación by the public are discussed. The relationship between collecting (la “Treasure Act” de 1996) junto con un plan de registro específico and archaeological research, together with archaeological attitudes y centralizado para los hallazgos hechos por el público. También towards collectors are also explored, in particular the issue of the se explora la relación entre la búsqueda de restos arqueológicos y degree to which the recording of material voluntarily reported by la investigación arqueológica, junto con las actitudes arqueológicas artefact hunters creates useful archaeological data. It is shown that the manner by which this information has been collected severely hacia los coleccionistas, en particular la cuestión del grado en que limits its use for many archaeological purposes. el registro del material notificado voluntariamente por los cazado- res de antigüedades proporciona datos arqueológicos útiles. Se ha Keywords: Antiquities trade, archaeology, artefact hunting, demostrado que la forma en que se ha reunido esta información metal detectors, portable antiquities, Portable Antiquities Scheme. limita severamente su uso para muchos fines arqueológicos. Palabras clave: comercio de antigüedades, arqueología, bús- queda de restos arqueológicos, detectores de metales, antigüedades muebles, Portable Antiquities Scheme. 101 Paul Barford, Some Aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record in England and Wales Introduction narrow definition of “Treasure” can basically do with them what they want. For the past 20 years, there This paper attempts to present a summary overview has been a centrally-coordinated “Portable Antiquities of some aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of Scheme” (PAS) based in regional centres in England the Archaeological Record (artefact hunting and and Wales, that aims to record archaeological objects collecting) in England and Wales and in particular found and voluntarily shown to its staff by members addresses the conflict that has arisen between these of the public, including by metal detector users, so activities and the need to preserve the archaeological that a record can be made on its online database of record from damage and destruction. This entails objects that would otherwise be lost without trace. also a discussion of the means adopted to deal with This is discussed in more detail below. this conflict through forming a ‘partnership’ scheme to record archaeological material in private hands The history of private collecting of (the Portable Antiquities Scheme – PAS), and the degree to which this mitigates the damage caused. archaeological objects This presentation draws on many sources but is The collecting of prestigious antiquities at the largely based on the author’s own close observation “high end” of the market had been going on in (since the late 1970s) of the artefact hunting milieu the UK as part of the art trade since the Grand Tour and the archaeological response to its activities and in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was a niche ac- in particular more intensive scrutiny by means of tivity for most of the nineteenth and early twentieth using for this purpose the social media associated centuries, indeed, there was a decline in interest in with collecting over the last twenty years (a form of the period of modernism of the 1930s and 1940s ‘netnography’, Kozinets 2002). (see Rosenstein 2009: 150-1). As the people of Britain The United Kingdom has a very rich archaeological became wealthier and left behind post-War austerity, heritage and long traditions of preserving and studying and at the same time began to face an increasingly it, but differs from the majority of the countries of uncertain and alienating future, from about 1960, Continental Europe in, through historical accident, there seems to have been an increase in interest in having a system of heritage legislation that allows the collecting historical objects (Ibid.). At first — with the private collection of archaeological artefacts, and the exception of ancient coins — archaeological objects practice of exploiting those archaeological sites that were not popular as collectables, they were in short are not covered by specific protective measures as a supply (from splitting of old collections and falling source for them. This means there are no restrictions numbers of chance finds from increasingly mechanised on collection-driven exploitation of the majority of agricultural and building operations) and therefore known (and yet unknown) archaeological sites in relatively expensive and hard to obtain. There were the country. In most areas of the UK, all that is relatively few collectors and few specialist dealers in required for artefact hunters to exploit such sites such material, operating from brick-and-mortar shops for personal entertainment or profit is to gain the or by mailing lists. permission of the landowner to enter the property It was only in the 1960s and 1970s that hobbyists and remove artefacts from the ground and gain legal began to go out in the British countryside looking title to them. Within the UK, there are differences for historical collectables for personal entertainment in the manner how these finds can be treated. In and profit on a large scale. While the collection by Scotland, the local Treasure Trove laws mean that small numbers of amateurs of lithic artefacts found all finders of archaeological artefacts are required to on the surface by chance or searching had had a long report everything that they find. In Northern Ireland, tradition in several regions of Britain (especially on all artefact hunting is conducted under licence, again the Chalklands, Breckland and Lincolnshire Wolds), with compulsory reporting. this seems to have declined in popularity in the 1950s. In England and Wales (151,149 km2), however, the In the mid to late 1960s, in the sudden expansion of law about ownership and handling of archaeological interest in antiques generally, three types of artefact finds is comparatively liberal. Under the 1996 Treasure hunting started to gain prominence; the first two of Act (Bland et al. 2017: 108-10), only a limited range of them seem to have spread from the USA. The first categories of find that are over 300 years old (consid- was the digging of Victorian and Edwardian rubbish ered “Treasure” by the law) have to be reported to a dumps for vintage bottles (and other objects). Bottle local coroner, and if it is decided in an official inquest digging reached a peak in popularity in Britain c. that they are Treasure, the objects can be acquired by 1972-77, but then declined fairly rapidly 1976-1985. a public collection and the finder and landowner get It is not clear why there was this decline in interest financial recompensation at market value determined (perhaps this in part was due merely to a change by the Treasure Valuation Committee (which has to in fashion, but another factor might have been due be raised by the acquiring institution). If no public to the reserves of easily accessible bottle dumps institution wants these objects, or cannot raise the becoming exhausted by this time). The second type money, the object is returned to the landowner and of searching (initially called “treasure hunting”), was finder to use as they see fit. Most often, the object the use of metal detectors to hunt for buried ancient is sold to collectors on the antiquities market and and historical objects, and this hobby was to remain the profit split 50:50. popular much longer. Numbers of metal detector users Under the current legislation of England and seem to have started to rise fairly rapidly after 1981 Wales, finders of objects that do not fall into the (see below). A third niche hobby that began growing 102 Revista d’Arqueologia de Ponent 30, 2020, 101-125, ISSN: 1131-883-X, ISSN electrònic: 2385-4723, DOI 10.21001/rap.2020.30.5 Paul Barford, Some Aspects of the Collection-Driven Exploitation of the Archaeological Record in England and Wales in the late 1970s was “mudlarking”, the searching of admire. Towards the end of the 1960s, however, new the finds-rich deposits in the foreshore of urban sites technology appeared that would change that system like London, and amassing collections of artefacts like and grant the privilege of handling old or ancient that (Sandling 2018; Maiklem 2019). finds to the mainstream public. The hobby of metal It was the rise of the hobby of artefact hunting detecting had been born.
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