Treasure Act Annual Report 2018 Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 12 of the Treasure Act 1996 March 2021 ii Treasure Act Annual Report 2018 Presented to Parliament pursuant to Section 12 of the Treasure Act 1996 March 2021 1 © Queen’s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2021 Compiled by I Richardson Published by Portable Antiquities and Treasure, Learning and National Partnerships, British Museum 2 Contents Minister’s foreword 5 Introduction 6-7 Statistical highlights from Treasure cases 2018 8-21 Table of Treasure cases 2018 22 3 4 Minister’s Foreword It is a great pleasure to introduce this year’s Treasure Act 1996 Annual Report, which gives an overview of how the Treasure Act operated in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2018. The Treasure Act relies on the time and expertise of many people across the country, including Finds Liaison Officers, funding partners and museum teams, who all deserve huge thanks for their hard work and contributions to the process. Finders and landowners are also at the heart of the Treasure Act and it’s brilliant to see 76 finders and landowners who donated their finds in 2018. I’d like to thank the Treasure Registry at the British Museum, the Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum of Wales and the Department of Environment and Ulster Museum in Northern Ireland for their continued work to support the delivery of the Treasure Act across the UK. The Treasure Valuation Committee has also provided more expert advice this year, and I welcome their new chair, Roger Bland, who brings his formidable knowledge and expertise to the role. 2018 was notable for three rare finds that cast light on some of the earliest recorded history of these islands. The Iron Age chariot find in Wales and the Bronze Age bulla and sleeve fastenings found in England and Northern Ireland respectively, demonstrate the importance of the treasure process in extending our knowledge of the past and ensuring that important finds are available for the public to see and learn from. We recently published the next steps following the consultation on the Treasure Act 1996. I hope everyone interested in treasure will engage with our ongoing work, building on past successes to make the Treasure Act 1996 even more effective. Caroline Dinenage MP Minister of State for Digital and Culture March 2021 5 Introduction Under the Treasure Act 1996, finders have a legal obligation to report all finds of potential Treasure. For a summary see https://finds.org.uk/treasure or the leaflet Advice for Finders of Archaeological Objects, Including Treasure. The Act allows a museum to acquire Treasure finds for public benefit. If this happens, a reward is paid, which is (normally) shared equally between the finder and landowner, though the interested parties may wish to waive their rewards, enabling museums to acquire such finds at no or reduced cost. Rewards are fixed at the market value of the find, determined by the Secretary of State on the advice of an independent panel of experts known as the Treasure Valuation Committee. 1,094 finds were reported Treasure in 2018, bringing the total number of Treasure finds reported to more than 15,000 since the commencement of the Act. In 2018 these cases consisted of over 20,906 individual artefacts, which make up a portion of the archaeological items found in England and Wales which are recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme; in 2018 there were 69,687 objects recorded with the Scheme. This data is published on its online database at finds.org.uk. The Scheme and its network of local archaeologists – experts in recording small finds, known as Finds Liaison Officers – play an important role in the operation of the Treasure Act, advising finders of their legal obligations, providing advice on the process and writing reports on potential Treasure finds for coroners. Organisation The administration of the Treasure Act is undertaken by the British Museum, which employs a Senior Treasure Registrar and four Treasure Registrars, one of whom is part-time. This work involves the preparation of Treasure cases for inquest (at a Coroner’s Court), the handling of disclaimed cases, acting as the secretariat of the Treasure Valuation Committee, and the payment of rewards to finders/landowners. In Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales carries out the liaison with finders and coroners and in Northern Ireland this is done by the National Museum of Northern Ireland. Treasure Valuation Committee The Committee’s terms of reference are detailed in the Treasure Act 1996 Code of Practice. In short, it is tasked to recommend to the Secretary of State the value of Treasure finds, to recommend abatements of rewards in the case of misbehaviour on the part of the interested parties, and to recommend an apportionment of the reward when there is a disagreement among the parties. The Committee is made up of independent experts appointed for their knowledge of the antiquities trade; its membership also includes someone to represent the interests of finders, a museums’ representative, and an expert in cultural property law. Membership of the Committee consists of Professor Roger Bland (Chair), Ms Gail Boyle, Ms Marian Campbell, Ms Harry Bain, Ms Hetty Gleave, Dr Megan Gooch, Mr Christopher Martin and Ms Lucinda Orr. More information on the Committee, as well as electronic versions of the minutes of the meetings of the Committee, can be found online at finds.org.uk/treasure Impact of COVID-19 6 Whilst the target time for the completion of Treasure cases is one year from the time of reporting, the large number of items reported and the complexity and size of many of these cases means that they often take longer to process. Many cases were still in process when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the first national lockdown in March 2020 and subsequent measures were put in place to limit the spread of the virus. The British Museum was shut to all but essential workers and most British Museum staff were furloughed for the summer and autumn months of 2020, and many local and regional museums were operating with much reduced staff. The Treasure Valuation Committee was only able to carry out three (from seven) of its scheduled meetings. This meant, for the purposes of this report, that many Treasure cases reported in 2018 which would otherwise have been resolved in 2020, were further delayed. This can be seen in the analysis of Treasure finds, later in this report. Publication This report, and copies of previous reports, is published online at: https://finds.org.uk/publications 7 Treasure cases 2018 Number of Treasure cases and geographic distribution The number of Treasure cases reported in 2018 was 1,094 (Table A). This is a slight decrease from the previous year, though such fluctuations are normal and often the result of vacancies in FLO posts throughout the year. Table A: Number of Treasure cases reported 1988–2018 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). Year No. of Treasure cases 1988 19 1989 23 1990 22 1991 16 1992 34 1993 37 1994 36 1995 20 1996 24 1997 79 1998 201 1999 236 2000 233 2001 214 2002 240 2003 427 2004 506 2005 595 2006 673 2007 747 2008 806 2009 778 2010 860 2011 969 2012 990 2013 990 2014 1,011 2015 1,005 2016 1,116 2017 1,266 2018 1,094 The high level of the reporting of Treasure reflects a wider understanding on the part of finders of their obligations under the Treasure Act, through the education and outreach work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and its Finds Liaison Officers. 8 Table B: Summary of all Treasure cases 1997–2018 by geographic area (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). - 1997 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Total 2005 Bedfordshire 27 8 15 6 14 8 11 15 17 12 8 9 6 7 163 Berkshire & 18 2 2 4 4 3 11 12 15 16 11 10 3 11 122 Reading Buckinghamshire & 45 13 9 22 14 12 23 18 20 24 30 23 33 30 315 Milton Keynes Cambridgeshire & 39 22 34 21 8 21 22 28 29 22 22 15 15 18 316 Peterborough Cheshire and 29 1 9 5 10 11 7 6 10 14 8 14 8 7 139 Merseyside Cornwall 11 3 7 1 9 3 3 4 9 14 5 7 11 18 105 Cumbria 8 3 8 6 6 13 10 9 8 11 10 7 16 9 124 Derbyshire 23 3 7 11 9 7 6 12 6 3 6 7 11 7 118 Devon 46 10 6 12 3 13 8 19 20 25 19 17 22 38 258 Dorset 68 16 17 18 17 16 23 27 41 35 40 31 70 41 458 Durham 5 1 4 5 1 5 8 1 2 10 6 2 10 8 60 Essex 131 44 36 57 54 57 91 67 66 80 49 55 114 57 958 Gloucestershire1 50 20 14 13 13 9 20 27 19 17 14 12 14 18 260 Hampshire 122 33 30 24 22 18 29 19 47 40 42 62 70 68 626 Herefordshire 5 5 4 2 5 7 7 11 10 4 11 4 7 8 90 Hertfordshire 42 14 16 9 19 14 11 13 17 25 13 5 14 9 221 Isle of` Wight 52 19 30 21 47 30 33 24 30 17 25 23 21 25 397 Kent 198 39 42 52 41 52 39 52 50 33 38 62 81 53 832 Lancashire 17 3 4 2 5 10 6 6 6 13 6 10 8 4 98 Leicestershire2 30 14 15 17 17 16 15 17 11 11 12 17 17 17 226 Lincolnshire 135 26 34 41 40 67 74 62 62 53 49 56 67 87 853 Lincolnshire, North 23 3 9 5 5 11 7 5 26 9 6 11 14 10 144 & North East London, Greater 21 6 14 14 15 11 22 11 8 5 13 17 15 9 179 Manchester, 4 1 1 2 1 9 Greater Norfolk 454 76 77 109 82 65 80 123 107 119 126 130 121 103 1,772 Northamptonshire 31 12 12 11 17 21 15 14 17 20 11 13 17 17 228 Northumberland 11 2 2 7 8 12 8 8 4 4 7 4 4 3 84 Nottinghamshire 44 4 14 24 14 20 15 11 9 10 23 18 9 16 231 Oxfordshire 38 14 12 11 13 12 9 19 19 28 46 35 48 32 336 Rutland3 2 4 6 2 14 Shropshire 29 9 12 12 15 9 11 7 15 9 14 13 15 23 195 Somerset4 59 14 15 12 19 24 25 35 20 26 29 37 59 31 392 Staffordshire 39 2 15 14 15 18 15 18 14 11 10 34 12 24 239 Suffolk 237 48 41 47 65 59 76 62 61 72 87 80 82 68 1075 1 Including South Gloucestershire