I think people forget that a lot of archaeology only really takes place because a site is under threat of development. Like that dig they did the other year in Neston just before they built the new supermarket in the town centre. Archaeology is expensive and in cases like that the developers have to pay for any archaeology to be done so that the history doesn't get destroyed by their building work. Most professional archaeologists are not treasure hunters, they're researchers who only really excavate places if they have a very good reason to. And as far as I know, most skeletons get reburied. What with all the nasty diseases that people used to die of in earlier times, you wouldn't want to be digging anyone up unless you had to!
I remeber when my uncle found a gold bracelet in spain. My mum took it to pikes to get it valued as it wasnt your average Argos jobby. Turned out to be an Italian hand made something or another and they valued it around 10 times the price of scrap, which 15 years ago wouldnt have been that much, I wonder what it would be worth now.....
(I'll see if he still has it)
Uncertainty or not knowing causes depression, Im happy because I know I'm going to die one day!
I think people forget that a lot of archaeology only really takes place because a site is under threat of development. Like that dig they did the other year in Neston just before they built the new supermarket in the town centre. Archaeology is expensive and in cases like that the developers have to pay for any archaeology to be done so that the history doesn't get destroyed by their building work. Most professional archaeologists are not treasure hunters, they're researchers who only really excavate places if they have a very good reason to. And as far as I know, most skeletons get reburied. What with all the nasty diseases that people used to die of in earlier times, you wouldn't want to be digging anyone up unless you had to!
i dont always believe what i see on the telly but i seen an archaeology and seen row upon row of boxes containing remains and human skulls on shelving with numbers printed on them.why dig someone up to put in a box and leave on shelves you say they rebury them ?? if thats the case then why and where probly in a mass grave without there persetions whitch will probly be lying in a vault somewhere instead of leaving them intact to me that seems so rong just grave robbing but licenced to do so why not just do a dig take a photo of the item on or with the owner ie deceiced fill it back in instead of raping a grave ie taking something that isnt yours to take but if you find an item that was discarded of or lost then stuff the laws still finders keepers beter in my pocket than siting on a glass shelf with a load of anarachs drtooling over it
Can't really help you there scary. I'm not an archaeologist. Maybe somebody else will explain it better than me. Still, I think a lot of what you see on telly is the more interesting (unusual) stuff, not your average archaeology. You'd only really find things like grave goods in very old (pre-Christian) burials.
The majority of what diggers find is usually just rubbish. And I bet that museum vaults are filled with far more boxes of broken pots than bones or valuable artefacts.
When I watch Time Team and see them using as many as three JCBs to excavate a site with the full knoledge and a nod from the authoritys put in place to oversee our historical past. I find it hard to accept that a guy with a trowel can do as much harm in a life time as Profesor Mick Aston and Baldric do in three days.I would love to find something worthy of a place in a museum basement where 90% of what they have is kept. I have been going to the Wlliamson Art gallery and Museum for over fifty years and see nothing new apart from the specials(like Aldi).The Viking History of Wirral will be opened up by somebody with a metal detector not a somebody waving a rule book. NCMD Website www.ncmd.co.uk
Last edited by paranoidballoon; 28th Mar 201111:28am.
You obviously feel quite strongly about this, scary! Metal detectorists probably mirror society – there are those who go by the book, those who will follow the rules only when it suits them, and those who don’t give a shit. You may have seen TV programmes where digs have to be done in secret so detectorist tossers don’t arrive at the site in the middle of the night and take anything of value, ruining all the archaeology in the process. Personally, I can think of little more mind-numbing than spending my time using a metal detector in the vague hope of finding something of monetary value – I’d rather do the lottery - the odds are about the same!
Scary i totally agree with every single thing you said there. i couldnt steal from any grave yard so to speak id just cover it up and move on... its not in me to do such thing! but if i had permission to go to a place and found gold yes id split it!
Thinking about it, if you go about metal detecting in a more responsible manner you could metal detect on somebody's land (with their permission, of course) and anything you found classed as 'treasure' you could still sell to the museums without breaking the law. Chances are anything significant would be considered far more valuable by the experts because of its historic or archaeological importance, and you would receive more for it than you'd probably ever get by selling it on to a dealer for scrap value or to someone on the blackmarket. Unless an item is expertly identified you probably wouldn't know its true value anyway.
By establishing good contacts with your local museum's finds officer or a well organised club, you'll benefit from their knowledge & training. They'll help you identify and date your discoveries. You'll be helping increase knowledge of what's out there in the fields, and you could possibly make a name for yourself if you help find anything important.
If you don't do this, you're breaking the law and holding on to things which might be far more significant than you recognise. You'd be preventing yourself from ever taking full credit for the find being made. You'd be preventing other people from learning from it (if all you do is keep it in your own personal 'museum'), and you'd probably prevent yourself from ever getting a fair price for anything valuable you find.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I just don't think that you're doing yourself or anyone else any favours doing things your way.
On a lighter note, a mate and me were allowed to detect in a field in Greasby by a farmer who owned it. Straight away my mate got a signal but couldn't find anything. A couple of seconds, another loud beep but again nothing to be found. This went on for half an hour or so until he'd dug half of the field up with nothing to show for it. It turned out my mate had metal toe caps in his boots and every time he stepped forward his feet went near the search head setting the alarm off. What a D%$&K !!
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