Lara Maiklem (London Mudlark)
@LondonMudlark reminds her readers:
If there are 2500 'mudlarking' artefact hunters among the population of London (nearly nine million), that means the number of this type of artefact hunters in the population of the metropolis is something like one in 3500. It is a very small minority of the population as a whole. [The data concerning metal detecting in
London suggests that in 2021, just "<50 finders" reported just 91/210 finds - 50 in 9mln is 1:180000].
The same goes for metal detectorists in the country as a whole, even if we arbitrarily up Sam Hardy's estimate to a round 30 000, in a population of 67.1 million for England and Wales, it is still one in 2240. That is far more than the archaeological record can sustain.
Define sustain. None of it is sustainable, it's massive irreversible knowledge theft.
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas, Brian.
ReplyDeleteLike the Christmas pudding, when it's gone, it's gone. No more pudding for the others.
Re x-mas pud-is the tanner a PAS recordable find?
ReplyDeleteThe devil in me wonders whether to report one with pictures of a pudding being 'dug' and a 'probably' litterered trite story of high status puddings and skilled puddingmakers.