ourpasthistory.com: PAS Conference 2007

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PAS Conference 2007

In April 2007 four of us like minded Essex detectorists spent two days at the British Museum at the annual Portable Antiquities Conference.

This year the theme of the conference was to demonstrate the impact that the Scheme and analysis of collected data, has made upon the archaeological world.

The speakers presented papers which clearly demonstrated the research being undertaken using PAS data and these talks covered the spectrum of periods recorded by the scheme.

The papers from this conference are to be published -and a number of the powerpoint presentations are available on the PAS website blog

Of all the papers presented, the one which really caught my imagination was Torksey: Finds from a Viking Winter Camp))suggest that the army and its followers were actively trading, using silver and gold bullion as well as coinage and engaged in some metalworking in copper and perhaps silver presented by Mark Blackburn from the Fitzwilliam museum and Finds Liaison Officer Rachel Atherton. This research on the finds which points towards a Viking Winter Camp has been the result of a large volume of detectorists finds. The Vikings had spent the winter of 872/873 at Torksey after campaigning the previous year. The finds from the site of the camp (including Arabic dirhams

The conference was a great opportunity to be able to talk to the other delegates as well as the speakers - there were a number of detectorists in the audience. Its also always a pleasure to meet up with the PAS folk themselves.

All in all an excellent couple of days - and a reminder of the benefit and value of recording your finds with PAS - we are in effect an unpaid army of recorders for the academic world who conducts this type of research - a point well made by one of the speakers.

Roll on 2008!