UK Treasure Hunting, Bottle-Digging History Prof Flogs off Protohistoric Hoard

                      .                     

A professor of medieval history, Tom Licence of the University of East Anglia, while out artefact hunting near Bury St Edmunds, suffolk with a metal detector, dug blindly down into the archaeological record and uncovered a hoard of 18 Iron Age gold coins  ( Rachael McMenemy, 'History professor finds huge Iron Age hoard' BBC 14.02.2026). The coins date to the reign of Dubnovellaunos, ruler of the Trinovantes tribe between 25 BC and AD 10. Now he and the landowner are flogging off this archaeological material, marketed as 'the Bury St Edmunds Hoard', and the find is expected to brinmg them in £25,000 at auction through Noonans. He first uncovered 17 full gold Iron Age coins and one quarter‑coin in autumn 2024, followed by one more full coin when he returned a few months later – bringing the total to 18. The hoard will be sold at auction by Noonans in London on Wednesday 4 March

PAS record ID: SF-03C894. Nota bene., the record was made in Feb 2025 and contains 17, not the 18 coins. The PAS record is a bit of a mess.

Interestingly, although mention is made in the University's report of the discovery of finding some "pieces of Viking hack silver" in the field on the day of the find of the first coins, the PAS does not seem to have a record of this, what is going on?

What is striking—and frankly disheartening—is not simply that this hoard was removed from its burial context and situational associtions (which was...?) in such a disruptive manner, but that it was done by someone (who bloody well should be) fully aware of the importance of historical context. In the case of this find, and all the others this guy has been hoiking out of the ground as he fancies, they have lost most of their context, apart from the contexts he grabbed these trophy collectable from having lost part of their content. Archaeology is not treasure hunting, the true value of such a hoard lies not in the gold content or auction estimate, but in its precise location, stratigraphy, and association with surrounding material evidence. Once objects are extracted without controlled excavation, irreplaceable contextual data is lost forever. The coins might have contributed to a deeper understanding of ritual deposition practices in late pre-Roman Britain, or the site where they were found. Yet instead of being investigated through a systematic archaeological dig, the site became a metal-detecting success story.

Even more uncomfortable is the romantic language used to frame the discovery. The suggestion that the coins might have belonged to one of his “ancestors” personalizes and sentimentalizes what should be treated as shared cultural heritage. This is not a family heirloom rediscovered in an attic; it is part of the collective archaeological record of Iron Age Britain.

Although the find was reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme and some funds may be donated to a public collection, this does not undo the damage done by removing the hoard outside a controlled research framework. Recording an object after extraction is not the same as documenting its full archaeological context before disturbance.

It is genuinely sad to see a history professor participating in (and publicly celebrating) activities that contribute to the erosion of archaeological evidence and thus the historical record in general. Scholars, above all, should understand that context is everything. These are the people that should be opinion-makers/informers. This one's got it all wrong.

Professor Tom Licence is shown on his university's website to be a Professor of Medieval History and Literature, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing Member, specialist in the Norman Conquest, the cult of the saints, ecclesiastical history and Latin literature (10th-12th centuries). He's written over thirty books, research papers and other texts, including one on dump-digging (2017) [incongruously refereing to Victorian dumps as a 'resource' but seemingly unconcerned about the hobby that is digging them up for profit and pleasure destroying that resource, making then unavailable for future research]. He also wrote a book: "What the Victorians Threw Away". Licence is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, because, of course he is.

The University of East Anglia's very proud of what he's done: "History professor strikes gold with remarkable Iron Age discovery" by: University of East Anglia Communications Thursday 12 February 2026.