Olympics Dig Starts

Ah yes... it starts... Love it or loathe it.. the 'real' Big Dig is underway.. strangely at the same time that 15 specialists from MoLAS are ... 'let go'. Must being hoping not to find anything.

Hungate Excavation, York.
Free Open Day

For the first time, DIG Hungate will be open to the public on Saturday May 5th from 10am to 3pm. Come down and meet the archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust to see what new information has been discovered about the history of York.

Location: Hungate, off Stonebow, City Centre.


Dig Hungate is part of the Hungate (York) Regeneration scheme, creating a new Hungate community whilst its past is revealed.

Nice news article on gladiators graveyard soon to be on BBC Timewatch

BBC News

Village has gift to treasure

The British Museum has made a special presentation to a village after a rare find.

Dr Ralph Jackson, curator of the Romano-British Collections at the British Museum, presented a replica votive plaque from the Ashwell Hoard to Ashwell Museum last Thursday.

From: The Comet.net

Mystery over treasure trove coins

More than 600 silver coins found on an Anglesey beach by a metal detectorist have been declared treasure trove by a coroner.

The haul, dating from around 1272 will be valued before the finders are paid, and the items offered to the National Museum of Wales.

From:BBC News

King Herod's ancient tomb 'found'

Bronze Age gold to be exhibited

A collection of 17 gold bracelets and neck ornaments thought to be more than 3,000 years old has been bought by the Somerset County Museum in Taunton.

From the BBC News

ROMAN treasures unearthed near Winchester have been saved for the community with the help of a council grant.

The council's museums service has given more than £1,000 for three separate hoards of coins, found by a local metal detector enthusiast.

The hoards comprise seven silver siliquae, one gold aureus, 23 silver denarii and three late Iron Age gold staters found with six silver denarii.

The coins range in date from 113BC to AD37, some inscribed with the name Julius Caesar.

The 40 coins, valued at £2,540, were found by the late Kevan Halls, of Fareham.

They were reported by his widow to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, based at the museums service's headquarters at Hyde Historic Resources Centre.

An inquest declared them "treasure", which gave Winchester Museums the opportunity to acquire them.

The coins will eventually go on display.

Top television programme films in Rasen area

THE CHANNEL 4 Time Team programme team, with presenter Tony Robinson, was in the Market Rasen area last week excavating a site where a number of Roman coins and brooches have been unearthed

From:The Market Rasen Mail

Metal Detectorists loot civil war battlefield.

Washington Post

It's a shame but that goes on everywhere.
Vandals have even destroyed some Civil war memorials

Memorial Desecrated

Coroner praises 'smashing' treasure trove

ITEMS that had not seen the light of day for hundreds of years have been declared as treasure.
Yesterday, Wiltshire Coroner David Masters seized two separate treasure troves in the name of the Crown.

The first inquest concerned a find of 29 groats and 29 pennies that date back to the reigns of Edward I (1239-1307) and Edward IV (1442-1483).
advertisement
The coins were found in Chiseldon on July 24 last year by Ray Stone and members of his family

Story From: Swindon Advetiser

Seal found in field

A SEAL belonging to a 13th century vicar from Wedmore has been found in a field outside the village.

Members of the Weston Metal Detecting Club picked up the artefact while skimming a field, which used to be owned by the church.

Weston & Somerset Mercury

Today marks the opening of a new British Museum website
BM Website

Irish bog find. Mmmmmm bogs.

Cauldron

AMATEUR HISTORIAN UNEARTHS HIDDEN SECRETS OF CASTLE

An Amateur historian from the Highlands has written the story of a castle near his home, told through the artefacts he has unearthed with his metal detector.

Colin MacLeod dug up coins from the reigns of 19 kings and queens, including a hammered silver coin from 1281, during a six-year search of the land around Redcastle, on the Black Isle by the Beauly Firth.

Full story from: ThisisnorthScotland

Saturday 2nd June

Wycombe Museum , Priory Avenue, High Wycombe HP13 6AX

Finds and ID Recording by FLO Ross Tyrrell 2pm - 4pm Free Entry

Museum Website

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:
More than 600 silver coins found on an Anglesey beach by a metal detectorist have been declared treasure trove by a coroner. The haul, dating from around 1272 will be valued before the finders are paid

"The coins are sandwiched between a layer of sand and a layer of packed shells - it's a mystery how they got there." So they were knowingly dug from stratified contexts ... well, I suppose it would be a mystery if they were just dug out like potatoes.

quote:

Originally posted by hopski:
Metal Detectorists loot civil war battlefield.
Washington Post

quote:

Originally posted by Tetricus:
It's a shame but that goes on everywhere.
Vandals have even destroyed some Civil war memorials Memorial Desecrated

But the people who destroyed the Civil War graves were looking for collectables, just the same as "metal detectorists" in Britain and elsewhere. The reason it "goes on everywhere" is that "collectors are the real looters". There are a couple of thought-provoking articles/podcasts on the antiquities trade here (part 1) and here (part 2).

Here's some more "going on everywhere" -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2098273,00.html

Lets all just shrug, eh?

What a shame there isn't an Iraqui PAS, it would all be completely acceptable then. Nay, it would be an heroic process.

quote:

Originally posted by Silaction:
What a shame there isn't an Iraqi PAS, it would all be completely acceptable then. Nay, it would be an heroic process.

I note we are told: "...the homes of wealthy European and American collectors is a much better place to keep these archaeological masterpieces and eventually it is hoped that these super rare items will make their way into American ane European Museums. Stripping the Iraqi and Arab Museums serves mankind in the end by protecting these items from being destroyed by the hate inspired Islamists ..." and here we have the corresponding thesis to UK "detectorists" claiming to "rescue objects" from the plough. The homes of collectors are "a much better place" than in the hands of those who cannot be entrusted to look after it eh? I think there are more parallels here than the UK's pro-collecting lobby would like to admit.

quote:

I think there are more parallels here than the UK's pro-collecting lobby would like to admit.

Parallels? You want parallels guv?
Better here than there
= better out than in
= better mine than... well, anybody's.