Saturday 31 December 2022

More on Empty Storeroom Shelves

 

Nothing to see here, move along
A metal detectorist, member of a metal detecting forum near you, posted me a while back some material from the forum asking for me to comment on it on my blog. I think they were trying to get me to say something about archaeologists... since I did not use their information, they have started making further accusations that I am involved in a cover-up. That is nonsense, of course. But here's the information that, reportedly, metal detectorists have been seeing from members of their own community. I do not vouch for the truth of anything reported below:
Allectus » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:29 pm
Just been doing some 'digging' regarding this sorry tale and it's not pretty! [emoticon] The items missing/lost by Lancashire FLO and/or LANCUM alone is staggering........ At least seven hoards (not including Jimmy's) and many, many, valuable single items. One fella who lost a hoard of hammered silver and bronze age items was, when told the bad news, to "keep it quiet"!! [emoticon] Incredibly, the thefts are thought to have been occurring for a period of over a decade and it's all been hushed up! [emoticon]
Well, if there is any truth in that, it is not surprising the PAS is keeping quiet, because if this is true, it is the PAS itself that is under investigation. I am a bit disturbed by that word "alone", and think we are owed some justification why "items missing" becomes "thefts" a few lines down.

I have been given the (to be accurate, alleged) name of the person arrested when some "objects were found". That person, due to their employment history, cannot have been involved in "missings" of objects over a whole decade, which raises a question how many people would be implicated in Allectus's version of events. More to the point, it beggars belief that a "hoard" found a decade ago, let alone seven other ones, should still be in the temporary store after all that time. The Treasure process may be slow, but not to that degree. Also if it is true that one or more hoards went missing "a decade ago, why was the disappearance not detected by the PAS and Treasure registrars earlier? Something is wrong with this story. Another post on the forum goes further in arkie-bashing:
Post by geoman » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:44 pm
It would appear that the system of keeping quiet has been to protect reputations and perhaps the guilty. Often the explanation has been that items have gone astray and are missing without any hint of them actually stolen by a third party
There have always been hints of malpractice in the academic world with experts allowed to peruse museum store rooms and collection in the pursuit of their research and so on. Naturally some will have had sticky fingers and to preserve reputations cover ups seem to have been the norm.
Proving what has gone on is very difficult as the museum establishment will simply close ranks.
There is some truth in that. In one museum collection I was working on, some Anglo-Saxon coins disappeared from a safe and never returned. In another, half an erotic samian bowl went missing from a store (leaving the other half with some racy scenes) - and since the complete bowl was dug up about a century ago, the publication described it in only coy general terms and there was no drawing. So, yes it happens and yes, museums keep quiet about it (was I the first who spotted that only half a vessel is now present in the collection?). It is looking increasingly like there will never be a court case involving the missing Oxyrhynchus papyri from a major university's collection, probably a whole tangle of old school ties is involved in tying up the case allowing the whole thing to be hushed up. Will he same be the case with the Lancashire Artefact disappearances? Or will there be a show trial of the one guy who gets off with a slapped wrist and a fine so any faults there might have been in the whole system of supervision and monitoring of the Treasure process are not exposed? All the more reason for the PAS to come clean and explain their version of what actually is going on.

See also: thePipeLine 'Arrest in Preston Museum Missing Treasure Investigation' December 22, 2022.  



6 comments:

De. William Shephard said...

O' dear, O' dear, again I appear, a thief in the night, your statements to blight, with knowledge and truth, accompanied forsooth, by verification, authentification, appreciation, and justification, for all our efforts, Have a lovely new year Paul, but if you would, [I will if you will] detail all you have done to significantly change the direction of humanity. Microbiology is a powerful tool, but archeology is not. unless you have helped a suffering child.



Hougenai said...

I wonder how a certain microbiologist views amateurs in their profession in 2023?
Would you accept a result off someone who processed a sample (produced from a plastic bag, from an unknown source) prepared on a kitchen table, grown in the oven, and stained in the kitchen sink? Would you base a diagnosis on such a result?(though continuing the analogy, would it ne reported, or just added to their collection of such?).
As a microbiologist, you'll understand the importance of accreditation.

https://microbiologysociety.org/publication/past-issues/biogeography/article/diy-biology-bio-inspired-or-biohazard.html



How does this archaeology isn't a 'Powerful tool' and 'Microbiology' is work in the case of 'Microbial archeology' ie where microbiology is used as a tool in aiding understanding the past eg microbiota of past human populations, identifying disease and it's spread in earlier populations etc?


Oh yes, and as my mum would say, a Chief Senior Med Lab Scientist with 50 years working in a hospital lab 'We are only part of a team, not just doctors and nurses, but lab staff, cleaners, porters and all ancillary workers, who all contribute in providing treatment.'

De. William Shephard said...

Oh what a wonderful thing to be, the holder of a real degree, A chap who by parental spillage, received the genes now used to pillage, the truth from deep within the crap, ejected from the ass of that, imagined voice of one so bitter, Oh Paul, I have to titter. DOCTOR WILLIAM SHEPHERD. [Keep going pal, a Doctorate gets you entree into places you can only dream of]

Paul Barford said...

Keys and sleeping with the right people too, of course. But what has this narcissism of yours to do with the Prestongate that is the topic of this post? Please explain, nonymously. A doctor he says but unable to work Google comments so his name is at the top instead of "unknown"...

De. William Shephard said...

Paul, my dear chap, I love unearthing objects relating to our past history, I love searching on fields you, and your bearded friends would drive past without a second glance. I love the feeling when an object, a coin, or any other artifact is revealed by my electronic sweeping. But, most of all, I enjoy the bitterness, the sheer envy, the ''I went through Uni'' but never uncovered such gems, the frustration as displayed by you and your long-dead fossilized bigots warm the cockles of my heart. Have a nice new year, DOCTOR, William Shepherd.

Paul Barford said...

The loves of a self-absorbed doctor who still has not worked out how to use Google blogger properly are neither here nor there.

Reminder: This post is about objects missing from a secure storeroom, not detectorists showing themselves up.

 
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