How treasure hunters struck gold
British Museum lays out the year’s hoards, including remarkable Bronze Age trove from East Yorkshire
JUST AS they had in medieval times, the museum keepers brought out their year’s hoard of gold and trinkets and set them before the Minister.
For John Glen, whose job description encompasses the 21st-century portmanteau of arts, heritage and tourism, the custom at the British Museum was more about public relations than assaying the treasure, but the symbolism was apt.
“I suppose we should have had somebody from the monarchy really,” reflected Michael Lewis, the museum’s head of portable antiquities and treasure.
The renewed interest in its annual stocktake yesterday was fuelled by the 20th anniversary of the new Treasure Act, and the cachet that the hobby of searching for buried treasure has acquired since the screening of a gentle BBC comedy on the subject, Detectorists.
Discoveries made by the public have reached record levels in the last 12 months, with gold jewellery found by a student in Norfolk valued at £145,000, and a haul of 158 Bronze Age axes and ingots having been unearthed in East Yorkshire.
The Wolds hoard, whose discovery followed immediately that of a smaller trove in the same field near Driffield, where their original owners are thought to have abandoned the items, would not have been considered treasure prior to the new legislation – which affords protection to any metallic object more than 300 years old.
Enthusiast Dave Haldenby discovered both hoards – 185 items in all. They were among 1,120 treasure finds last year, the most spectacular of which was a gold necklace and pendants of “national significance” found by Thomas Lucking in an Anglo Saxon grave in the East Anglia village of Winfarthing.
He said any proceeds he received from the £145,000, which will be split with the landowner and his metaldetecting partner, would go towards the deposit on a house.
“We could hear this large signal,” he said of the discovery. “We knew there was something large but couldn’t predict it would be. When it came out, the atmosphere changed.”
The activities of Mr Lucking, who has become an archaeologist and uses his metal detector mostly at weekends, parallels those of actors Toby Jones and Mackenzie Crook in the comedy series Detectorists, which Crook, a star of The Office and Pirates of the Caribbean, also writes. Mr Lewis said metaldetecting could “make an immense contribution to archaeological knowledge” and that “the vast majority of people are keen that their hobby has a positive impact”. He added: “In medieval law, the monarch could claim anything that was gold and silver, but over time it’s become a little bit more archaeologically focused, rather than just grabbing bullion for the crown.”
The Yorkshire hoard is not currently on display at the museum, Mr Lewis said. “But we got it out for the Minister. It’s part of the examination and treasure process.”
The Minister said it was “fantastic” that discoveries had reached a new high. “Every year, thousands of found objects are recorded so we can learn more about our past,” Mr Glen said.
People are keen that their hobby has a positive impact. Michael Lewis, the British Museum’s head of portable antiquities and treasure.