Detecting Under the Microscope: "without metal detectors, the coins would never have been found."

One "Addedomaros" from Buckingham, an individual who prefers not to give his real name but adopts the persona of a dead ruler, says takes his line from the PAS here at 11:48:

Yet again, that old sourpuss 'he who shall not be named' has condemned the finding of the hoard. Apparently it belongs to the people of Jersey, not the finders/landowner. As ever he misses the point that, without metal detectors, the coins would never have been found. Very easy to condemn from a 'foreigner' who can judge from afar. An Internet troll indeed! 

Yes, the archaeological heritage of the soil of Jersey (like the right to clean water and air there and a whole lot of other things) rightfully belong to the people of Jersey, not the two artefact hunters that deliberately set out to locate it and dig it up for the reward money. It is tekkie coin dealer "Addedomaros" who does not understand that from the point of view of archaeological conservation, the last thing anybody needs need right now is for a hoard as deeply buried as this (requiring a two box hoard seeker to find even as massive a concentration of metal as this) to be dug up. Not only does Jersey now need to find the "reward money" for these two but now needs to finance the conservation, documentation, archivisation, future display, security and insurance (and future continued policing of the findspot) of this find made by two guys working unasked on a known site.

Note the artefact hunter's assumption that his readers will accept that the find belongs to its "finders", rather than being part of the common heritage of the people of the area (and world archaeological heritage).

Nothing shows the utter failure of fifteen years of very expensive PAS "outreach" than the repetition of these same points by metal detectorists in the UK every time a find like this receives publicity. Somehow these artefact hunters (surprise surprise) have failed to be dissuaded from the point of view that archaeological conservation (the "Best Practice" which the PAS was set up to attempt to instil in these searchers) is all about using a metal detector to dig up as much of the archaeological heritage here and now rather than aim for preservation in situ of the unthreatened stuff. Indeed, for fifteen years through insistent propaganda about the "size of its database" (of depleted archaeological contexts) the PAS has strongly reinforced the view among artefact hunters and the general public that hoiking more and more stuff out of the ground is in some way archaeologicalm beneficial and laudable. It is neither.

The size of the whopping big hole, the 30 year search (and equipment reportedly used) to locate it shows that this Jersey Hoard (like many other big finds in the news recently, Frome Hoard for instance) are supreme examples of the sort of find that is not currently under any threat.

Let us note that the "Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting" (though only in "England and Wales") quite clearly speaks of artefact hunting only in disturbed contexts such as the ploughsoil. the photos show how much deeper than the ploughsoil the retrieved part of the Jersey Hoard currently lies. These coins were removed from archaeological layers well below the level of modern disturbance.

It seems to me that the time has long PASsed when the PAS should have explained quite a few things to their "partners" about "best practice" in artefact hunting and long-term management of the archaeological resource. If they can. And if they cannot, what on earth do we need a PAS for if its failing to do its job of archaeological outreach among the public, both artefact hunters and those they are taking the archaeological record from? 

What message does the PAS have - and is willing to give - the thousands of people who over the Daily Mail at the breakfast table and its story of another two who strike it rich are discussing this morning ordering a metal detector through the Internet for the weekend? "Out you go chaps, do some research, target a known site and bring us what loot you find to put up on the Internet"?

By the way, it is worth noting that Jersey is quite interesting as a place where comparatively large numbers of Celtic' coins have been found in the past without the use of metal detectors, in contradistinction to mainland England.

Vignette" Addybdominius tells it as he sees it. 
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