Would you agree that there is a serious issue in some corners of the metal detecting world - with some seeing the prospect of tresspassing in order to hunt for treasure as part of the excitement of the hobby? Or others that target land next door to Scheduled monuments knowing that scheduling rarely covers the true extent of the site? That these people do not record, encourage others not to record and are welcomed at some clubs?
[QUOTE]Originally posted by D: No probs Steve, your gunna have to go some to answer this in good light though. Good luck!
Seconded. This press release, that we're all having to wait for, will need to be an absolute masterpiece, to convince anyone that the creation of a second database is an act of loyalty and support towards PAS. Imagine standing on the halfway line, turning round and smashing a screamer past your own goalkeeper then issuing a press release explaining how it was for the good of the team. Good luck indeed!
Oh, and for those that can't wait - no, you won't be able to access it. It's for detectorists.
"No probs Steve, your gunna have to go some to answer this in good light though. Good luck!"
Seconded.
This press release, that we're all having to wait for, will need to be an absolute masterpiece, to convince anyone that the creation of a second database is an act of loyalty and support towards PAS. Imagine standing on the halfway line, turning round and smashing a screamer past your own goalkeeper then issuing a press release explaining how it was for the good of the team. Good luck indeed!
Oh, and for those that can't wait - no, you won't be able to access it. It's for detectorists.
Silaction I let my feelings known on this over on the PAS forum when it was announced, I hardly ever go there now. I was answered (It may have been by Mr Huff & Puff himself - read above) but in no way was I convinced, in fact the answer given made me even more sceptical.
Still if they keep bleating that they are encouraging recording (and my word they can bleat) then I have no doubt that some people will start to believe them.
Now let me mention just the once how I save things from chemical errosion and the plough (In every other post as a justification).
I for one think the PAS is doing very well, and have no intention of getting involved in any other schemes, however well meaning they may be. If someone has reservations about recording with the PAS through their local FLO, I can’t see them recording with ANY scheme. When recording now, you can give your FLO as little or as much information as you wish, about where you found said article, so what’s the problem ?
There seems to be a small group of people, and it is a small group, whose sole intention seems to be to undermine the PAS and all it stands for, for the life of me I can’t see why. Unless it is to promote their own ego’s.
........................................................................ Support the PAS Go with the FLO
Many of the detectorists I know trust other detectorists less than they do archaeologists. At least they know we're not going to be on 'their' sites after dark!
Originally posted by Tetricus: I for one think the PAS is doing very well, and have no intention of getting involved in any other schemes, however well meaning they may be. If someone has reservations about recording with the PAS through their local FLO, I can’t see them recording with ANY scheme. When recording now, you can give your FLO as little or as much information as you wish, about where you found said article, so what’s the problem ?
There seems to be a small group of people, and it is a small group, whose sole intention seems to be to undermine the PAS and all it stands for, for the life of me I can’t see why. Unless it is to promote their own ego’s.
Originally posted by Tetricus: ..... for the life of me I can’t see why. Unless it is to promote their own ego’s.
Wonderfully observed!
quote:
Originally posted by Tetricus: Is this scheme open to everyone. How do I find out about it. Are all the records available to all, once relative checks are done? Who is collating and disseminating the information? How does it fit into the strucures in place to update and compliment the archaeological record? How are the general public being informed about this scheme? I'd be interested in knowing the answer to all of these questions. Perhaps I can use this to record ALL the finds at the Groundwell dig this year. We will of course be recording EVERYTHING, each individual nail, each piece of pot, tile, glass and the organic stuff - as this is likely to be preserved in much the same way as the floor joist last year. It would be great to parallel record this info - who do I contact?
Roman finds go on show. One for the metal detectorists.
ROMAN coins dating back nearly 2,000 years are on display in Westbury. They are part of a discovery of 5,500 coins, dated 300AD, which were found inside a 4th century Roman pot in a field in Chapmanslade.
Steve Murtie and Brent Pullen, of Westbury, who have long been interested in metal detecting, made the discovery in 1993.
Mr Murtie said: "I've been doing this for about 20 years but this was the biggest, most valuable find I've made. I found the first few coins just under the surface then dug down and found the pot jammed with coins."
The find was taken to Devizes Museum, where the pot was restored. Some of the coins were then passed on to the British Museum.
Mr Murtie has 30 coins in his own collection, which he has loaned to the heritage centre for their current display, Westbury people and their collections.
Ivan Clark, chairman of the Westbury Heritage Society, is in charge of the exhibition. He said: "The coins have attracted lots of people. Everyone has been extremely interested that we have items from so long ago. We've had about 40
people a day coming in to look around."
The exhibition also features school, work and village photographs from across the years, which have proved popular with visitors.
The display will run until October when the new theme will be Westbury and the villages.
Children can get involved in discovering ancient artefacts by joining in with a new project, Dig for History, run by the Westbury District Community Development Trust.
Chairman John Rogers said the aim of the scheme was to get families with young children over six interested in history. They have had permission to search a 300-acre farm with metal detectors.
Mr Rogers said: "We have already found 11 coins from the early 19th century. But it's not just about the finds, it's also about the investigation that goes before them."
Anyone who wants to get involved in the digs, which take place on the first Sunday afternoon of each month, should contact the heritage centre on (01373) 825784.
I don't think the piece in UKDN was a wind-up. It kind of reads like that, I know, but I reckon it's written by someone who believes that they sound like a native but actually aren't at all. It's someone from Germany. Or Holland. Slightly Eurotrashy, know what I mean?
Originally posted by Chris Walker: Is this scheme open to everyone. How do I find out about it. Are all the records available to all, once relative checks are done? Who is collating and disseminating the information? How does it fit into the strucures in place to update and compliment the archaeological record? How are the general public being informed about this scheme? I'd be interested in knowing the answer to all of these questions. Perhaps I can use this to record ALL the finds at the Groundwell dig this year. We will of course be recording EVERYTHING, each individual nail, each piece of pot, tile, glass and the organic stuff - as this is likely to be preserved in much the same way as the floor joist last year. It would be great to parallel record this info - who do I contact?
quote:
Originally posted by Steve-B:
Chris, as one of the team members of the UKDFD, all I can assure you of at this time is that the database will be wholey complimentary to the PAS.
Any further information, which I am certain will allay all reasonable concerns will be included in our forthcoming press release.
Steve
Metal Detecting Retailer Actively Promoting P.A.S.
David Shugarts writes: > I think there's good news in that the current detectorists, in > their urge to get together and formalize any part of their > procedures, might be approachable by members of the > established field of archeology, who may be able to attract > them "into the fold" or at the very least, negotiate some > barely acceptable procedures. <
I think David you've somewhat missed the point. If you look at what the detectorists themselves write in the links provided by me yesterday (but in the longer version - the one with 'footnotes') you will find that the UKDFD is being established as a "hobby oriented" alternative to the scheme and initiatives already set up at no little cost to actually achieve this. It is run "by detectorists for detectorists" - ergo "no archies". This is the crux of the matter. Despite the effort and funding which has been invested in setting up - largely as archaeological outreach to the artefact hunting milieu - an official voluntary reporting scheme (the PAS), this group is saying in effect, 'no, we do not want this, we want to go our own way'.
Surely, in cases where archaeological sites are having part of the evidence removed from them (assuming we actually wish to allow for some reason this type of exploitation of the archaeological record for personal gain to go on) in the interests of managing that resource, we should be striving for rather more than "some barely acceptable procedures".
I am tickled by your vision of amateur geophysicists becoming the next generation's equivalent of metal detectorists. It would be nice wouldn't it? An interest in the past expressed in non-invasively peering below the topsoil and producing mysterious charts to peruse and wonder over, and meet in clubs to discuss, exhibit amongst themselves and auction on eBay or send off to foreign dealers to sell in countries that have no such things. With forums with "Geophys plot of the month" competitions and so on. Sadly, as I said, I think you will find that the whole motor for all this is the collecting of the artefacts rather than a search for a more abstract "knowledge" (again, are you not just seeing here the 'machine'?). Amateur archaeological groups have been using geophysics equipment (like resistivity meters) for a number of decades but somehow this seems not to have rubbed off on detectorists because their interest is primarily the artefact and not its context or the site it comes from (as the format of the UKDFD "database" clearly demonstrates). Artefact hunters are however currently developing their interest in aerial photography and 'reading the land'. Sadly though if you read whayt they themselves write about it, this is not a trend towards non-invasive landscape research of a locality, but primarily as a means to find sites which they can then visit to rip collectable artefacts from.
The UKDFD in bypassing the archaeological outreach of the PAS is a clear step backwards in the process of building liaison between the artefact-hunting milieu and those concerned with the conservation of the archaeological resource. Its creation prompts looking more closely into the way in which we are dealing with the phenomenon of artefact hunting and personal collecting of archaeological artefacts from archaeological sites in the UK.
The second one should read....
