Leading Article: Ploughing, delving, discovering
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Your support makes all the difference.THE SPREAD of metal detectors in the Seventies produced a dramatic surge in the discovery of archaeologically and historically interesting items. Estimates of the number of objects 200 or more years old that were found each year by the UK's 180,000-odd 'metal detectorists', as they are called, range from several hundred thousand to 2 million.
One effect of this jump has been to throw into relief the anachronistic nature of the law on treasure trove. As it has long stood, it gives the state a claim to treasure that has been trouve only if it is made of gold or silver; is deemed to have been deliberately buried with the intention of recovery; and its owners (or their heirs) are unknown. Museums have the right to acquire an object that qualifies, with the finder receiving a reward equivalent to full market value.
Since only a tiny fraction of finds fall into this category, most go unrecorded. Even some that might qualify are in danger of being disposed of abroad, to avoid the cumbersome procedures and long delays associated with treasure trove.
Lord Perth's New Treasure Bill, which is backed by the British Museum and due for its second reading next week, would eliminate speculation about the original owner's intentions, reduce the minimum level of gold and silver required to qualify, and extend protection to virtually all coin hoards and objects found with items qualifying as treasure trove. The Bill would also speed up the inquest procedure. Experts estimate that roughly double the present number of items would be covered, but 95 per cent would still go unrecorded.
The nation would thus continue to lose the large contribution to historical knowledge and heritage made possible by those much-
maligned wielders of metal detectors. A majority of their finds result from patient trudging over ploughed fields. Metal objects ploughed out of the soil will rapidly corrode unless rescued. Without the metal detectorists, these objects would deteriorate - and about 700 new archaeological sites a year would not be discovered.
The scope of the Bill is not wide enough, and it fails to establish procedures to encourage the recording of more finds. The case for it being ploughed in and replaced with a more comprehensive version is strong.
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