Metal Detecting Not Our Cup of Tea

"The UK Archaeologists' charity metal detecting rally at Lepidop Grange in Shropshire came to an end yesterday", reports Vanessa Cardui ('Metal Detecting Not Our Cup of Tea' Shropshire Courier, 31 March 2014). Despite the overcast weather, it raised over two thousand pounds for charity. Attendance was high, with participants coming from all over the country to take part, meet in the beer tent and discuss the latest advances in deep-seeking metal detecting technology with dealers at their tables and look at the many and varied finds and coins  offered for sale by visiting traders. The event was organized by the Institute for Archaeology for its members on behalf of several charities. The venue was chosen because it had - according to the present landowner - never been detected before and so there was a high chance of finding anything from Celtic, Roman and Medieval coins to Second World War remains from a nearby training camp. Ms Cardui reports that she interviewed a number of the participants:

"Mikey-hey" said he'd come down overnight from York, as he posed for photographs in a bobble-hat specially made for the occasion, he said he had some misgivings about this kind of event if there was often not proper recording of finds which led to information loss, but archaeology was for everybody, so why should not people who've invested in metal detectors be able to help themselves too? "It's legal innit?" he said provocatively giving a boyish smile as he did so. "Bodge" had also come down overnight from north of the Border, his  rugged filmstar looks were marked with tiredness from the journey, but he said it was well worth it "after all... what is teh past if... teh past is for everybody... we should all  recognise that there are many ways.. we can all do this... er.. together. I believe... I always... have said, jaw-jaw is better than war-war – working together is a way forward we can all...".  I left him struggling to finish a sentence to go and talk to another detector wielding archaeologist. "Jen" from Maidstone Kent was enthusiastically digging a deep ragged hole with her spade when I asked her what she thought of the rally. "Isn't everybody doing so well!" she enthused  manically grinning as she threw a fountain of soil into the grass around her crater, "I mean really well!". 

"All over the field men were walking slowly, swinging their coils, slow and low. Stooping, they were concentrating on the chirps and chatter in their headphones, occasionally they would stop, twiddle a few knobs and resume their procession before occasionally dropping to their knees to attack the soil with little tools". Not everybody was equally keen on the metal detecting hardware, some were computer buffs, it seems.

I approached a man in tweeds with a satisfied grin on his face. I asked him what he'd found. He pulled out from his pocket fistfulls of coins,"Bland's the name", he offered in a soft oxbridge accent, "Roman", he beamed, "lots of Roman. When I get these home I am going to put them straight onto my database, do you know how big my database is? Do you want to come and see it? I've got the biggest database of dugup finds in Britain, you know!" I declined the invitation.  Excusing myself, I approached a man wandering aimlessly on the edge of the site, inspecting a mound of earth and peering intently at a medieval potsherd he picked up from its surface. "Archie-wanderer", he introduced himself. When asked if he had anything to say about metal detecting, he admitted "not a thing, it's not really my cup of tea, I only came because a friend asked me, I really am not at all sure what is going on". Just then our attention was distracted by the loud whoops and jiggy gyrations of an elderly man with a beard around his ETrac in the grass, "Oh Barry's found gold again!" remarked someone, "he always does, it's his gold dance".      

Not all archaeologists in the UK have private collections of hoiked artefacts, but its probably only a matter of time. There is nothing illegal about it and aficionados stress that it can be great fun and very educational, and after all, that's what relics of the past are there for, to be dug up and enjoyed by everyone here and now, before they are lost forever in the soil:

Tarquin Toffman, Finds Liason Officer, admitted ashamedly he'd never before held a metal detector in his hand. "It's probably due to prejudice", he reflected,“This is just spiffing, it's wonderful at last to become one of Britain’s heroic band of artefact hunters! Just a moment ago I found my first coin, a grot, but just imagine, I was the first person to hold it in my hand since the original owner dropped it all those thousands of years ago. It’s marvellous, the stuff is just sitting there , some out of context and some not, waiting to be found and taken away". Meanwhile an archaeologist who'd come over from the States to be with other metal-detector-loving archaeologists was sitting by the beer tent trying desperately to work out how to get her new machine out of its box.

Ms Cardui reports that when she left the site, the archaeologists were still at it, heads down and oblivious to what was going on around them, "Metal detecting does that to folk, I guess", she added.

And seriously, if there is nothing wrong with it, and it is so jolly helpful to archaeology, why do we not see many archaeologists enjoying the healthy, educational and comradely hobby of metal detecting and the legal collection of ancient artefacts? That is the question raised by Lepidop.

UPDATE: 2/3/14.