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Portable Antiquities Scheme: Briefing
Can you please give your support!!
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by the public and recently the 300,000th find was recorded on its online database, www.finds.org.uk. PAS offers important educational benefits which have been recognised by the Government and it has a significant impact on museums. It is funded (£1.3 million in 2007/8) via the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA), whose budget is being cut by 25% in real terms over the next three years; funding for PAS was not ring-fenced by the Government.
MLA is proposing freezing PAS funding for 2008/9 at this year’s level, which would mean a loss of 5 out of the current 50 posts. This would severely reduce the PAS’ effectiveness as a national scheme and destroy the trust of finders who have recorded finds; a trust difficult to regain even if the posts were re-established in the future.
so whats been happening?
A good story about PAS that has come out in Museums Journal 8/2/2008
A letter of support from a US Congressman, John Culberson 8/2/2008
Mike Pitts has written another very good story in British Archaeology which is out now 8/2/2008
House of Lords, 8 February 2008, Museums debate
Updated briefing on PAS funding 30/1/2008
List of MPs still to sign the EDM 566 : PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES SCHEME 30/1/8
Transcript of yesterday’s debate 29/01/08
Parliament TV - oral questions 28/01/08
Mike Heyworth, Roy Clare and Roger Bland on the PM programme on BBC Radio 4 discussing this issue Sat 26 Jan
The Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Indifference of Government
blog by Alun Salt 19/01/2008
Poll Portable Antiquities Scheme Cuts
14/01/2008 Current Archaeology Magazine
Flagship national archaeology scheme faces crippling cuts
14/01/2008 Current Archaeology Magazine
letter of support from the Ancient Coin Collectors Guild 21/12/2007
letter of support from the American Numismatic Society 21/12/2007
letter of support from the Archaeological Institute of America 21/12/2007
From a Front line user of the PAS 20/12/2007
CBA News: PAS Funding Under Threat 18/12/2007
from The Assemblage (a political archaeology blog) 18/12/2007
Heritage Link newsletter, which goes out quite widely to heritage bodies (pdf format)
Society of Antiquaries Online Newsletter (SALON) which has quite a wide circulation among archaeologists and has a long report on PAS (pdf format)
letter written by Prof Martin Millett of Cambridge and signed by 17 leading university archaeologists (pdf format)
Comment is free in The Guardian by Lord Renfrew 17th December
Article in The Guardian by Maev Kennedy 17th December
Portable Antiquities Scheme: Briefing
Summary
- The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by public and recently the 300,000th find was recorded on its online database, www.finds.org.uk. PAS offers important educational benefits which have been recognised by the Government and it has a significant impact on museums. It is funded (£1.3 million in 2007/8) via the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA), whose budget is being cut by 25% in real terms over the next three years; funding for PAS was not ring-fenced by the Government.
- MLA is proposing freezing PAS funding for 2008/9 at this year’s level, which would mean a loss of 5 out of the current 50 posts. This would severely reduce the PAS’ effectiveness as a national scheme and destroy the trust of finders who have recorded finds; a trust difficult to regain even if the posts were re-established in the future.
- PAS needs £1.49M in 2008/9 to function at its current level. It is vital PAS has a long-term and sustainable commitment to ensure co-operation with finders develop.
- PAS receives funding from DCMS via MLA. There are 34 principal partners, who employ PAS staff, and over 100 additional local partners who contribute locally: principal partners receive 95% funding and contribute 5%.
- PAS requires a long-term, consistent commitment. If 16 FLO posts were lost, the trust of those finders who have been persuaded to co-operate would be destroyed and it would be very difficult to regain that again if it were possible to re-establish the posts at some later date. Thus, if 23% cuts were imposed on PAS, it could be argued that the £8.3 million- worth of public funding that has gone into the Scheme since it was founded ten years ago would be lost. All the current staff have contracts which end on 31 March 2008 and the current uncertainty over their future is very damaging to the Scheme.
- PAS has consistently exceeded all its performance targets: in the first two quarters of this year we have exceeded MLA’s performance targets for outreach and finds recorded. In October the 300,000th find was recorded on the online database, www.finds.org.uk, the largest online database of its kind anywhere in the world. The data generated is increasingly being used for research and we know of 17 recently-completed or current PhDs and 19 MA dissertations which use our data, while we are also partners in 8 AHRC-funded research projects.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)
- PAS was intended to complement Treasure Act (see below), concentrating on the recording of finds, not their acquisition.
- 1997 – DCMS funded first 6 PAS pilot schemes, via the Museums & Galleries Commission. 1999 – HLF funded further 6 posts. 2003-06: HLF provided three-year funding for national network of posts; the bid was submitted by MLA.
- From 2006 direct funding from DCMS via MLA. There are 34 principal partners which employ PAS staff, and most have network of additional local partners who contribute locally: there are over 100 in all. They currently receive 95% funding and contribute 5% locally. 2007/08 budget: £1.3 million.
Impacts
- The Finds Liaison Officers are a very dedicated team of young archaeologists who believe in what we’re doing and who work (for very modest wages) far beyond the call of duty. They proactively go and encourage finders to report finds which they record on online database. The finders are mostly metal detector users (there are estimated to be some 8,000-10,000). The FLOs attended 1,067 meetings last year and liaise with 167 detecting clubs.
- Outreach: last year PAS held total of 776 events (attended by 37,500 people, including 7,522 children). In National Archaeology Week in July 2007 the PAS formed the backbone of these events: PAS staff were involved in 69 events across the country, attended by 6,925 people (including 3,083 children) and examined 2331 finds.
- At least 416 articles about the work of PAS were published or broadcast in 2006, including academic publications, articles in the popular press, and reports on television and radio.
- 6,216 individuals offered finds for recording (3,910 metal detector users and 2,216 others), an increase from 5,855 individuals who offered finds for recording in 2005/06.
- Social data: PAS has proved effective at bringing people into museums who don’t otherwise attend them – eg, 46% of visitors to Fabulous Finds Days (Museums & Galleries Month 2005) had never previously been to that museum before. A post-code survey of those who have recorded finds showed that 47% were from social classes C2, D and E, compared with 32% of visitors to museums .
- Expertise: FLOs add important element of expertise to many, especially smaller, museums, many of which have lost archaeological curators over the last few years. In 2006 they held 776 Finds Days or other events in museums and libraries, which brought in 37,445 people. 8% of finds recorded by PAS enter museums – 24,000 over last ten years.
- Finds recorded: this has grown steadily year by year and this year will be more than 60,000. 300,000 objects have now been recorded and it is the largest database of kind in world. Envy of other countries – eg Roger Bland was asked to talk about PAS in US Congress this year - and interest from governments and scholars in Russia, China, France, Scandinavia, Holland, Germany, Austria, Greece and Turkey.
- Research: we know of 4 major AHRC-funded research projects, 17 PhDs and 28 MA dissertations using PAS data; PAS is in the curriculum for the Open University archaeology course and A-level archaeology; see below maps of Iron Age coins of Cunobelin, Epaticcus and Caratacus from 1970 (top) and now (bottom), showing how much more material is being brought to light and how the new coins are showing a different distribution from that known in 1970.
coins of Cunobelin, Epaticcus and Caratacus from 1970
- PAS is also revealing many new archaeological sites, as detector users go where archaeologists don’t go. A recent study by a PhD student showed that the PAS data has revealed 24 new Roman settlements in Wilts, increasing the number of known settlements in the county by 15% - and that is based on only 3 years’ of data.
- New sites: Through PAS a very rare Viking Age burial site from Cumwhitton, Cumbria was brought to light. This early 10th century site was excavated following the discovery by local metal detectorist Peter Adams of two Viking Age copper brooches,below. Mr Adams reported the finds to the local FLO who secured £50K in funding from EH for an investigation of the site by . Oxford Archaeology North. The body of a Viking woman was found beneath the brooches, buried with a wooden chest holding weaving equipment at her feet. The graves of another woman and four men were also excavated. The sandy soil meant that while the bodies had decomposed, their equipment had survived.
Viking Age burial site from Cumwhitton
Viking Age copper brooches - Important finds: Perhaps the most important individual object recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme is the Staffordshire Moorlands bowl, found in 2004 by metal-detectorists Kevin Blackburn and Julian Lee. It is dated to the second century AD and it contains ‘Celtic-style’ motifs inlaid with coloured enamel with an inscription that reads MAIS COGGABATA VXELODVNVM CAMMOGLANNA RIGORE VALI AELI DRACONIS. The first four words refer to forts at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall. RIGORE VALI probably means `along the line of the Wall’. The last two words, AELI DRACONIS, could be the names of the owner for who the bowl was made, Aelius Draco, but another, fascinating, interpretation is that Aeli should be read with Vali and taken as a reference to Hadrian’s Wall – Hadrian’s full name was Titus Aelius Hadrianus. If that is correct then this would be the earliest contemporary documentary evidence for associating the Wall with Hadrian. Only two other similar bowls are known to inscribe the names of forts on Hadrian’s Wall. This bowl has been acquired jointly by the British Museum, the Potteries Museum and Tullie House Museum, Carlisle
Staffordshire Moorlands bowl
- Web use is steadily growing – all the data recorded by PAS is published online and more resources have been developed – eg Roman coin guide and an interactive site on the Anglo-Saxons. In 2006, 247,103 unique visitors visited the website – www.finds.org.uk – (the total number of visitors was 720,369) and there have been almost 82 million user hits on the website in the period of this report; a 62 per cent increase on 2005–6.
- User survey. In 2004 and again in 2006 PAS carried out surveys to see whether `users’ of PAS (finders, museums, archaeologists) felt we were meeting our aims. In every case we had a majority of respondents who agreed or strongly agreed we were successful in those aims and in every case the positive response increased between 2004 and 2006.
- Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting: In 2006 a Code of Practice for Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales was agreed. For the first time this provides an objective statement of what is meant by responsible metal-detecting and is endorsed by the main archaeological, metal-detecting and land-owners’ organisations. Its main focus is the recording of archaeological finds and avoiding damage to archaeological sites.
- Illicit trade: this has become a new focus of PAS in the last two years. In Oct 2006 MLA and the BM concluded an agreement with eBay to monitor the site for unreported Treasure. During the first year 183 cases were questioned and the number of Treasure finds has declined markedly over the course of the year. Dr Michael Lewis, Deputy Head of Portable Antiquities, has become a special constable with the Met Police’s Art & Antiques Unit.
Background: law of Treasure
- Treasure Trove: a medieval law – only gold and silver objects, buried with intention of recovery. No other legal protection for archaeological finds, except metal detecting an offence on Scheduled Sites.
- 1970s – growth of metal detecting; archaeologists tried to ban it, creating great distrust; few finds recorded, except in Norfolk and Suffolk where local archaeologists deliberately sought to build bridges with detector users.
- Treasure Act, 1996. Came into force following year demonstrating impact. The first leap in cases, in 1998, is due to the Treasure Act; the second, since 2003, is due to the establishment of a network of FLOs and the number of Treasure cases is growing each year.
- Half of all Treasure finds are acquired by museums – eg Harrogate hoard – most important Viking hoard since 19th cent – to be acquired jointly by BM and York Museums Trust. Reward fixed at full market value divided equally between finders and landowners. The Dept. of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the BM has a staff of 4.4 posts to deal with Treasure administration: 2.4 of these are funded through a transfer agreement with DCMS.
Appendix: Principal partners in PAS
National Museums
British Museum (5 posts)
National Museums & Galleries of Wales (1 post, plus grants to 4 Welsh Archaeological Trusts)
National Museums Liverpool (1 post)
Hub Museums
Ashmolean Museum (1 post)
Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (3 posts)
Bristol City Museum & Art Gallery (1 post)
Colchester & Ipswich Museums Service (1 post)
Derby Museum & Art Gallery (2 half-time posts)
Museum of London and Museum of London Archaeology Service (1 half-time post plus a contract for 0.4 post)
Norfolk County Council Museums Service (1 full-time and 2 part-time posts)
Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter (1 post)
Royal Cornwall Museum (0.6 post)
York Museums Trust (1.5 posts, to become 1 post)
Other Museums
Buckinghamshire County Museums Service (1 post)
Lancashire County Museums Service (1 post)
North Lincolnshire Museum (1 post plus contract for 0.4 post)
Salisbury & South Wiltshire Museum (1 post)
Somerset County Museums Service (1.8 posts)
St. Albans Museums Service (1 post)
Sussex Archaeological Society (1 post)
Winchester City Museums Service (1 post)
County Council Archaeology Services
Cambridgeshire County Council (1 post)
Isle of Wight County Archaeology Service (contract for 0.6 post)
Kent County Council (1 post)
Leicestershire County Council (1 post)
Lincolnshire County Council (1 post)
Northamptonshire County Council (1 post)
Suffolk County Council (1.6 posts)
Surrey County Council (0.5 post)
West Berkshire Council (likely to change to Oxon County Museums Service) (1 post)
West Yorkshire Joint Services (1 post)
Universities
University College London Institute of Archaeology (1 post)
University of Cambridge (0.6 post)
University of Newcastle (likely to change to Durham County Council) (1 post)
See also Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Plus a further 70 local partners that contribute to the posts in their areas.
Comment
Navigate for more: PAS update 13th Dec Front line user of the PAS