The British Museum has revealed that public finds have hit record levels based on a study of declared discoveries across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland from 2019.
Treasure is defined as items substantially made of gold, silver, or prehistoric metalwork that are more than 300 years old. This includes coins where an individual coin has at least 10% gold or silver, any object or material found in the same place that is classed as associated finds and gold or silver less than 300 years old that has been deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery.
Treasure is protected by the 1996 Treasure Act that legally obliges finders of objects (which constitutes treasure) to report their find within 14 days of the date of discovery. Items that do not qualify under the act fall under the remit of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), a voluntary programme to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest.
A total of 81,602 finds were recorded with the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in 2019, where almost 90% of these archaeological items were discovered by metal detectorists.
One of the most significant recent treasure finds include a beautifully preserved 1,100-year-old medieval brooch, unearthed in Norfolk after a tipper truck delivered spoil to a new location. The brooch is a rare type for this period and is intricately decorated with plants and animals in the ‘Trewhiddle’ style.
Another find is a well-used Iron Age drinking set, including a 2,000-year-old bucket adorned with mythical creatures and an unusual humanoid face. Other finds of note include a Roman Britain coin minted with an earlier coin die, making it an uncommon hybrid from a period when Britain first broke away from Europe, and a solid gold Bronze age arm ring, the type of which is so scarce that researchers are unable to determine whether it is British or Irish in origin.
Currently, there are more than 1.4 million objects recorded by the PAS on its online database, which is freely accessible to the public. The PAS is managed by the British Museum in England and Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
Caroline Dinenage MP, Minister of State for Digital and Culture said: “I am very pleased that a record number of treasure finds have been unearthed and it is brilliant that they will now go on display in local museums across the country. Each one of these valuable discoveries tells us more about the way our ancestors lived and I want to congratulate all those who played a part in helping uncover more about our shared history.”
Header Image Credit : British Museum
