PAS and Finds in Eastern England

© David Gill, 2021

I have been doing some work on the results of the RSA Heritage Index (2020) with a focus, in part, on eastern England. The Index includes a section on 'reported archaeological finds' drawn from the PAS dataset. It becomes immediately obvious that considerably more finds are being reported for Norfolk and Suffolk than for the four other counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and Hertfordshire. (Looking outside the region, West Sussex and East Sussex have a combined total of 27,000 finds; and the whole of Wales just over 63,000 finds.) 

What does this mean?

The recorders for Norfolk and Suffolk are to be praised for their recording of over 180,000 finds. The other four counties barely make 64,000 together. 

Does this mean that more finds are made and reported in Norfolk and Suffolk?

Does this mean that finds are under-reported (and therefore not recorded) in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire?

Is the implication that there is more activity in East Anglia than other parts of the region?

How does such information distort the way that these largely de-contextualised finds are used for research projects? 

Treasure Finds and metal-detecting

© David Gill

Ian Richardson has commented on his favourite Treasure Finds (Laurence Cawley, "Treasure finds in England top 1,000 for first time", BBC News 23 November 2017). This coincides with the number of Treasure Finds passing the 1,000 mark for the third year in a row. (See statistical summary here.)

Norfolk and Suffolk top the list with 211 finds. Julie Shoemark, the finds liaison officer for Norfolk, commented that "the rising number of reported treasure finds corresponded to a growth in the numbers of metal detecting clubs."

There is no comment from Richardson on the scale of the lost or damaged archaeological contexts represented by the 1,120 Treasure Finds.

Looting of archaeological sites in East Anglia

BBC Look East 17 October 2017

BBC Look East has covered the problem of looting on archaeological sites in East Anglia (October 17, 2017). The report covers the problem of illegal metal-detecting on the site of Great Chesterford, the response from the police (including PC Andy Long of Essex Constabulary) and landowners, as well as from metal-detectorists. Police will be installing cameras at key sites, as well as deploying drones to identify criminal activity.

The message that needs to get through is that archaeological contexts are being lost, and key pieces are not being reported.

The programme is available here for 24 hours.

BBC Look East 17 October 2017

Concerns over damage to sites in England

Westminster © David Gill

The All Party Committee on Cultural Heritage was taking evidence earlier this month. Lord Renfrew chaired the session.

One of the topics discussed related to the extent of damage to archaeological sites, including those that are scheduled, in England through the inappropriate use of metal-detectors. One senior museum figure from East Anglia expressed his concern, and I was able to share information about damage to one of the Late Roman Saxon Shore forts at Bradwell on Sea in Essex.

It would have been helpful if two senior curators from a major national museum in Bloomsbury had contributed to this part of the discussion.

The (fictional) Detectorists in Suffolk

Earlier today I attended a meeting of a number of heritage organisations from across the region. Every so often a member of the 'Detectorists' cast wandered outside the windows on their way to make up or catering. Clearly this 'comedy' relating to the search for portable antiquities in Suffolk is preparing for a second series.

Icklingham is not a safe place to search

Good morning! Out early to relieve the night shift near #Icklingham. Bomb Disposal en route to deal with this mortar. pic.twitter.com/pkQjd9Ckuc
— Forest Heath Police (@ForestHthPolice) February 24, 2015

It appears that Icklingham could have serious shocks for anyone looking for Roman material in its environs. Be warned!

Please return the Icklingham bronzes to the United Kingdom

The New York Times piece on the "repatriation" of antiquities raises issues beyond Syria and Iraq (Tom Mashberg and Graham Bowley, "Islamic State Destruction Renews Debate Over Repatriation of Antiquities", March 30, 2015). James Cuno, the advocate of retentionism, is concerned that antiquities are taken out of potential war zones and are placed somewhere safe. He is quoted:

“Calamity can happen anywhere, but it is unlikely to happen everywhere at the same time,” Mr. Cuno said in an interview. “I say ‘distribute the risk,’ not ‘concentrate it.’ ”

I presume that Cuno would be happy for looted antiquities to be returned to museums in "safe" countries.

Can I suggest readers of LM turn to page 21-22 of Who Owns Antiquity? to read about a Roman bronze that was welcomed into a Harvard exhibition while Cuno was director? The bronze was removed from a Roman town in Suffolk. And I have discussed it in my review of Cuno's volume for the American Journal of Archaeology.

Would Cuno like to ask the present proprietor of this bronze (and the other pieces found at Icklingham) to return them to the United Kingdom as soon as possible so that they can be placed on public view?

Rendlesham and metal-detecting

Professor Chris Scull gave an excellent presentation on the Rendlesham project to the Heritage Futures seminar today. He explained how the team was able to map the vicus regius on the landscape. One aspect of the presentation was the constructive use of metal-detectorists to map finds in the study area. It was clear how their carefully recorded work contributed to the understanding of this important Anglo-Saxon site that clearly has a relationship with the major ship burial site at nearby Sutton Hoo.

During the questions and discussion a little detail was revealed about the 'illegal' metal-detectoring on the site that led to investigation of the site. Scull thought that the fact that Rendlesham was known as a 'royal' site had probably attracted metal-detectorists. (I noted that there was never a mention of 'nighthawking' by Scull or members of the audience.) We were informed that a local estate worker had spotted searchers working at night.

Scull made a strong case for responsible and collaborative metal-detecting. But there was also a reminder of the damage that could be sustained to a site that clearly has international significance.

Earlier discussion of Rendelsham here.

Does Britain "condone systematic looting"?

I have been doing some work on the Icklingham bronzes that were apparently removed illegally from a Suffolk field. Neil Brodie, then in Cambridge, wrote a rather good letter in response to Peter K. Tompa (Washington Post 9 November 1999; with response 5 December 1999). Brodie talks about the Icklingham bronzes that "were illegally excavated and smuggled out of the United Kingdom and now are owned by an American collector". Brodie contrasted the Italian approach to that adopted in Britain: "At a recent conference held to discuss these issues, delegate after delegate from around the world expressed amazement at the British system, which allows the private excavation of antiquities and which, in the words of one participant, condones systematic looting."

Tompa did respond to Brodie (Washington Post 23 December 1999) and accepted that the Icklingham bronzes was indeed an "incident".

There are several things to note looking back at this exchange in 2014.

First, the present proprietor of the Icklingham bronzes has yet to return these objects to Suffolk. She has returned material to Greece and to Italy, so why not the UK?
Second, does the "private excavation of antiquities" continue in the UK? (I am not sure about the word "excavation" here.) This is exactly the point that I made in the Papers of the Institute of Archaeology in 2010 ... eleven years after Brodie's letter. And have there been any changes in the last four years?

Is it time that we heard more about the protection of unrecorded archaeological sites in the UK and less about the recording of portable stuff that has been hoiked out of the ground?

The Detectorists of Suffolk

Cemetery site in Suffolk © David Gill

Will Gompertz has a commentary on the forthcoming BBC sitcom 'The Detectorists', ' about a couple of middle-aged men with a passion for metal detecting'. The latest number of Saxon (the Newsletter of the Sutton Hoo Society) [59, July 2014] has a feature on the programme noting it is about 'two metal detectorists who dream of finding a priceless Saxon hoard'.

Are we conjuring up images of Sutton Hoo, Rendlesham, or perhaps even the Staffordshire Hoard?

The series has been filmed in Suffolk, Norfolk and Suffolk and will apparently feature Orford and Framlingham.

I could think of a couple of walk-in parts for the series including the North American collector who acquires Roman bronzes dug up from a Suffolk farm.

But perhaps I am moving away from fiction.

Anglo-Saxon brooches from East Anglia

Ansate brooches were rare finds, but metal-detecting has showed they were common part of A-S dress.so I made a gif http://t.co/dNGClEIrVX
— Rosie Weetch (@rosieweetch) May 17, 2014

I was very struck by the distribution maps for finds of Anglo-Saxon ansate brooches produced by Dr Rosie Weetch of the British Museum. It is very striking that the number of recorded "finds" increases from 2010 for both Norfolk and Suffolk. Weetch puts this rise down to the number of brooches recovered by metal-detecting.

It would be interesting to know how many Anglo-Saxon ansate brooches come from secure, excavated contexts.

What are the intellectual consequences if the majority of the brooches do not have secure contexts?

For the record the PAS database has 49 brooches for Suffolk, and 92 brooches for Norfolk.

See also comments by Paul Barford.

Basil Brown Memorial Lecture 2014

The Sutton Hoo Society is hosting the 2014 Basil Brown lecture, in this the 75th anniversary year of the Sutton Hoo excavations. Dr Leslie Webster will be lecturing on 'Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon Art' in Woodbridge on Saturday 14 June 2014.

"Near North Cove Hoard": valuation

The finder of the the "Near North Cove Hoard" in Suffolk has been interviewed on the BBC website ("Suffolk Bronze Age axe and ring hoard 'undervalued'", April 12, 2014). The Bronze Age finds were discovered near Lowestoft in 2011 and their value has now been set at £550 (instead of the £6200 that the finder was expecting). The finder, Steven Walker, is quoted:

"I've been metal-detecting for 15 years and this was my best ever find and my experience does not inspire confidence in the official valuation process. 

Unless changes are made, people aren't going to donate their treasure finds to the nation."

Further details are available from PAS.

PAS record number: SF-BDA986
Object type: Hoard
Broadperiod: Bronze Age
County of discovery: Suffolk
Stable url: http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/458499

Rendlesham exhibition

Rendlesham opening at Sutton Hoo © David Gill

I attended the opening of the exhibition of finds from the Anglo-Saxon site at Rendlehsam last night. This took place at the National Trust's Sutton Hoo visitor centre. It was a glorious evening with talks on the discovery of the site and its interpretation.

It was stressed that Rendlesham was the elite site — perhaps the location of King Raewald —whereas Sutton Hoo related to "death and memory". It looks as if we now have two major Anglo-Saxon sites in close proximity.

What became clear during the evening was the damage that had been sustained to the site by "nighthawkers". (Before anybody comments, three local metal-detectorists were present at the event as they helped to map small finds in the vicinity of the site.)

There is more on the Rendlesham site from BBC News. The Ipswich Star has been commenting on the damage sustained to the site [press].

We need to recognise that this internationally significant site has been damaged by illicit activity. Information has been lost. It is another reminder of the intellectual consequences of unscientific "exploration" of archaeological sites.

Looted Suffolk and Digital Heritage

Dig Venturers gather for DVIP lecture
at Leiston Abbey © David Gill

On Thursday evening I was invited to be the DVIP at the Dig Venturers Excavation at Leiston Abbey. It was a glorious summer evening and we were able to sit outside the barn. My starting point was the looting of the Icklingham bronzes and I showed that one of the pieces features on the back cover of the standard work on Roman Suffolk. I took along the Harvard exhibition catalogue with one of the heads. This volume provides information about the "provenance" and its link to Suffolk. I also showed the Shelby White / Leon Levy Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue and explained how some of this material has been returned to Greece and Italy (and, indeed, to Turkey) as a result of photographic recognitions.

Will Shelby White be returning this significant finds to Suffolk for display in the Ipswich Museum?

The discussion branched into the encyclopedic museum (including the nature of "the British Museum"), excavations in war-time (including Gallipoli [of interest to one of the Australian Dig Venturers]), where the Sutton Hoo finds should be displayed, and digital heritage. We explored how we could use Web 2.0 technologies to crowd-source the interpretation of a site.

So, thank you, Dig Venturers, for a wonderful evening.

The Portable Antiquities of East Anglia

Paul Barford will be leading a session for the UCS Heritage Seminar in April. Members of the seminar can look forward to a lively debate.

All welcome but attendees should contact Julie Barber (details on poster).

Anglo-Saxon Context Matters

West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village © David Gill

I had a meeting at West Stow Anglo-Saxon village today with Dr Ian Baxter and Alan Baxter. We were looking at the way that finds from grave-groups were displayed in the site museum. Alan Baxter then showed us a display of similar material and explained that it was thanks to the contextualised funerary finds that it was possible to make sense of the decontextualised ones.

It was a timely reminder that there are intellectual consequences for "portablising" buried archaeological objects.

Looting Matters for Comic Relief

Mark Murphy at BBC Radio Suffolk has challenged me to wear a "Comic Tie" for Red Nose Day on 15 March 2013. Readers of LM can sponsor me here.

To find out about the projects supported by Comic Relief click here.

The hunt is on to find the right tie (suggestions welcome!). And an image should appear on LM.

‘Comic Relief, registered charity
326568 (England/Wales)
SCO39730 (Scotland)’

.

Icklingham bronzes: looking back

I am reviewing the history of the Icklingham bronzes case. In 1991 the New York Times reported on the case raised by John Browning, the land owner (William H. Honan, "Peripatetic Roman Bronzes Trailed by Lawsuit", May 14, 1991). Browning claimed that 16 bronzes had been removed from his land in the winter of 1981-82, and that these bronzes were the ones being offered by Ariadne Galleries Inc.

Frances Dunkels, a spokesman for the British Museum, said in a telephone interview last week that in 1982 Dr. Ian Longworth, the keeper of Roman-British antiquities at the British Museum, was shown photographs of 16 bronzes said to be in the hands of a British dealer who indicated that they had come from the Brownings' farm. In 1988, Miss Dunkels said, Dr. Longworth said Ariadne Galleries had those bronzes.

One item to note is that Marion True would not touch the bronzes because she considered them to have been "stolen". Yet Shelby White seems to have been happy to acquire them no doubt to display alongside some of the objects now returned to Greece, Italy and Turkey.

Icklingham bronzes: call for their return

BBC Radio Suffolk had a focus on Icklingham today [iPlayer: final 10 minutes]. I was invited to say a few words about the Icklingham bronzes and their surfacing in New York. I reminded the listeners about how they were removed from the ground and what information had been lost. Interestingly one of the bronzes was displayed in a temporary exhibition at Harvard.

Shelby White, the present proprietor of the bronzes, has indicated that she intends to leave the bronzes to the British Museum. But our hope is that she will return them to be displayed in the Ipswich Museum or another collection in Suffolk.