There is a list here of events organized by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, around the country.

They are mostly events held at museums, where members of the public can go and have items identified, and recorded.

Events

Exhibition of Finds from South Northants and North Bucks

Sunday 23rd September


This exhibition will take place at Wicken Village Hall, between 11am and 4pm.

Mr John Marchant, a local archaeological enthusiast, has a collection of objects pertaining to the archaeology and social history of Old Stratford and the surrounding area, accumulated during earth moving work over the last 30 years. The collection is diverse, containing objects dating to between the Neolithic and postmedieval periods, and the first and second World Wars, as well as prehistoric animal bones and fossils. It is hoped that a proportion of the finds will soon be placed in local museums, but this event is a great opportunity to see some of the collections before they are deposited. Steve Ashby has been working with Mr Marchant to help identify his artefacts for the exhibition, and to record them on the P.A.S. database. Steve will not be onhand at the rally itself, but reading material relating to the scheme will be available.

A community excavation will be running for 4 weeks from the 24th September at Leasowe Lighthouse near Moels on the Wirral. There will be a chance to learn to excavate, survey and fieldwalk. There will also be some controlled metal detecting taking place.

If you would like to get involved then email Liz Stewart at liverpool museums.
Contact details on website. Here .....

For local and National events involving the Portable Antiquities Scheme

See here: Events

From the end of January for 6 weeks, the Huxley Hoard will be on display at the Salt Museum, Northwich. This is a hoard of Viking silver arm bracelets dating to the 9th century AD which were found by a metal detectorist and bought by Cheshire Museums and NML jointly. Alongside the hoard there will be a small case of other artefacts of a similar age also found by metal detectorists.

Happy Christmas to all of those at the PAS who I have met, and hope to meet next year

Finds Day

Coming up on the 20th of February, there is a finds day at Swindon Museum & Art Gallery.

Between 11am and 3pm

Bring along any items you need identified, or recording onto the PAS database.

This is run by local Finds Liaison Officer, Katie Hinds

This is will be a series of lectures by members of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and other archaeological experts about some of the key aspect of artefact identification.

The speakers will be

Sam Moorhead (PAS Iron Age and Roman Coins Finds Adviser) talking about roman coins.
John Naylor (PAS Early Medieval and later coinage Finds Adviser) talking about medieval coins.
Sally Worrell (PAS Prehistoric, Iron Age and Roman Artefacts Finds Adviser) talking about roman brooches.
Jane Timby (pottery expert, mainly specialising in roman pottery) talking about roman pottery.

There will also be a small presentation from the Sites and Monuments Record and I’ll be saying a bit about the PAS.

The day will run from 10:30am-4:00pm with and hour for lunch, each of the four main talks will last for 50 minutes.

To cover our expenses we will be charging £7 a ticket, all tickets are to be purchased in advance, please contact me on kurt.adams (at)bristol(dot)gov(dot)uk to book a ticket.

The event is to be held in Gloucester in the Cabinet Suite of the Gloucestershire County Council offices, Shire Hall which is opposite the cathedral. I’ll supply a list of car parks, park and ride and directions with the ticket, together with a detailed list of the day’s activities.

Kind regards,
Kurt.

Finds Surgery at Sherborne Museum, Dorset

22nd Feb 10.30am-4pm

At Sherborne Museum ( which is in Church Lane, between The Parade in Cheap Street and the Abbey.


Surgery with Naomi Payne and Ciorstaidh Hayward Trevarthen, Finds Liaison Officers for Somerset and Dorset.

Finds Surgery at Wells Museum, Somerset

Wednesday 5th March - 11:00am

Finds surgery

Wells Museum

Surgeries with Somerset's Finds Liaison Officer, take place at Wells Museum on the first Wednesday of each month between 11am and 3pm.

Unfortunately the PAS does not operate in Northern Ireland as yet. However, I don't see why it or a similar scheme couldn't.

Yes I'm sure they could operate a similar scheme, albeit on a smaller scale. Same goes for Scotland.

Finds Day- Chester, 11th April
Frances McIntosh will be at the Grosvenor Museum
from 10am- 4pm to record and identify
archaeological finds.

Francis is PAS Finds Liaison Officer for:
Cheshire, Greater Manchester & Merseyside

Somerset Heritage Roadshow at Glastonbury Abbey

This year's Somerset Heritage Roadshow will take place on the May Day Bank Holiday Monday, 5th May 2008, between 11am and 5pm at Glastonbury Abbey.

The Abbey will be free to visitors on the day (normally £5).

Somerset's Finds Liaison Officer, Naomi Payne, will be present at the event to look at any archaeological finds which are brought along. There will be many other heritage-related exhibitors.

For more information about Glastonbury Abbey (e.g. location maps, opening times etc.) go to

Abbey Website