Dutch Archaeologist Wants More Dots

"Dots, I see dots, lots of dots and call it archaeology"  

Nico Roymans (faculty member of the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Near Eastern studies in the VU University Amsterdam), specializes in the archaeology of  late prehistoric Celtic-Germanic societies and their integration into the Roman Empire. He has just received a €1.862 million award from the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) to make an online database of metal detecting finds from the Netherlands (press relerase Miljoenensubsidie voor tweelingonderzoek en archeologische vondsten Twee NWO-groot subsidies voor Dorret Boomsma en Nico Roymans). He's calling it: "PAN: Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands":

Private metal detector users collect portable antiquities (metal artefacts) from arable fields or construction works. Their finds are very valuable to professional archaeologists, but remain largely unknown. PAN will provide human resources and an online database for portable antiquities to make these available to scientists, heritage professionals and spatial planners. De NWO-bijdrage is 1.862.000 euro. .

Of course back in Bonkers Britain, partners and supporters of the artefact hunters and collectors are announcing this as a vindication of Bonkers British policies on the emptying of the archaeological record into collectors' pockets:

Daniel Pett ‏@DEJPett 11.02

€1.862 million awarded to set up a similar scheme to @findsorguk in the Netherlands (article in Dutch) http://www.vu.nl/nl/nieuws-agenda/nieuws/2016/jan-mrt/miljoenensubsidie-voor-tweelingonderzoek-en-archeologische-vondsten.aspx … #archaeology

It remains to be seen how "similar" to the PAS this will be. I sincerely hope the Dutch have more decency than to repeat the egregious mistakes of the British shambles. 

But then, when we look at the dot-distribution map approach of the wannabe creator of a clone, I wonder to what extent that trust is justified.Also why call it portable antiquities? Antiquities are what people buy and sell, archaeological evidence is what archaeologists study. They are not the same thing.

One to Watch.