Pottery identification

As previously confessed I've always been rather ignorant of all things non metal. I still don't know whether learning more about non metal stuff makes me a more responsible detectorist but if it means not walking over a PAS recordable piece of pottery or worked flint then I guess this is a good thing.

Hrm second thoughts in that I'm guessing its a good thing but now I'm worried that archaeologists might tell me I shouldn't pick up these bits as it might ruin a proper field walking survey which may theoretically be done at some point in the future.

Ah sod it I think learning more about non metal things is a good thing and as I'm finding it interesting I shall carry on. On which note I came across a really handy site with some great downloadable for personal use sheets on pottery identification. I think I will print them off.

It would be great to find a hammered coin and similar age pottery in the same location and perhaps selfishly finding old pottery might lead to old metal. Is that bad?

Soil and Soil Colour

An interesting piece on soil and soil colour

http://blogs.egu.eu/gsoil/2014/03/30/soil-color-never-lies/

Thanks to David Connolly for the link

Nazi War Diggers - Why I won't be watching

I've decided not to watch Nazi War Diggers. These are just three of my reasons.

1. The title Nazi War Diggers. This seems to be just a sensationalist title to that seems to merely promote interest in digging up War memorabilia.

2. The amended profile of Craig Gottlieb, one of the 'diggers'. I haven't been able to get my head around the change in profiles of Craig Gottlieb from

“I feel that by selling things that are Nazi related and for lots of money, I’m preserving a part of history that museums don’t want to bother with”

to now he says

"I'm an historian and a military officer. Where other people see fields and trees, I see a battlefield I see fighting positions. I see fields of fire."

 

I can't escape the conclusion that again this programme promotes the very looting that it gives as an excuse for its creating.

3. The Video. I appreciate its been removed and whilst the Nazi War digger site might say

Unfortunately, a video excerpt from our show posted on our website did not provide important context about our team’s methodology.

there is no excusing the fact Mr Goettlieb was allowed to wrench a femur out of the ground and then play with it thinking it was a humerus.  Where the bloody hell were the archaeologists or supervision that NatGeo speak of? It makes one think more respect would have been given if it had been a possibly valuably 'artifact' rather that 'just' a dead person...

There was nothing in the clip about 'this is not how to do it'. It was ironically a brilliant example of why detectorists without the proper qualifications and / or experience should not be allowed anywhere near a grave. It might also be why when there is what appears to be proper supervision then detectorists aren't allowed to excavate a grave.

From Donna Yates' twitter account


 

Sam Hardy at Conflict Antiquities has also written extensively and far more eloquently about the programme and I can't find fault with what he has written. In fact the only defence of it is from a chap called 'Hypocrites' who bemoans the fact Sam wasn't criticising the fact people had reposted the pulled video.

I had said to Kris Rodgers that I would wait for the full programme to come out before commenting any further. However for the reasons given above I think the damage has already been done and I don't want to add to any viewing figures.

Nazi war diggers - more change...

It's hard to keep up with the changes being made to the Nazi War Diggers site.

Gone is the picture of one of them looking down the barrel of a recovered rifle. I think it was a rifle.

Now there is new statement regarding the removed video clip.

Nothing about the rewritten profiles.

Would write more but must sleep now...

beginners archaeology,worms and rambling yes it's friday afternoon

I started my book 'Archaeology is Rubbish' yesterday. Very good so far. I've found it interesting just learning more about the history of what lies beneath our feet such as pottery, brick and glass. I think next time I'm out I'll try to take more notice of the non-metal stuff and bring back some of the bits I find to research some more.

In regards to detecting I'm pondering if it's wrong to think that if I can learn more about how to get a picture of the land I'm detecting then I might be able to find more 'metal' stuff. Maybe the benefits of learning more about non metal stuff and the importance of knowing when to stop digging might outweigh this 'wrongness' for want of a better phrase!

Anyway had a little 'Google' of 'Archaeology for beginners' and read this article from the Guardian. I found the below quote very interesting as always wondered why objects dropped got where they did.

Anything on the ground surface left alone for long enough will sink down 10–30cm beneath an accumulation of earthworm casts. Charles Darwin demonstrated this process in his best-selling book of his lifetime, Vegetable Mould & Earth-worms (1881).

If you're twiddling your fingers then the original Darwin text can be found here (look for pages 129 re the burying effect of a worm!)

I do appreciate that my attempts to learn more about archaeology are probably giving some proper archaeologists apoplexy.

For some reason I felt the need to insert a cat into my blog as such here's a picture of one of the aforementioned archaeologist's cats giving me a disapproving look.



Stop digging. NOW!

Nazi War Diggers - It's all change!

The Nazi War Diggers site has undergone a radical change!

Gone is the video of an arm, no wait, a leg being passed around.

Gone are all the comments stating how disgraceful the programme is.

Gone is the Mr Gottlieb's quote that

 “I feel that by selling things that are Nazi related and for lots of money, I’m preserving a part of history that museums don’t want to bother with”

now he says 

"I'm an historian and a military officer. Where other people see fields and trees, I see a battlefield I see fighting positions. I see fields of fire."

There is now a profile of a fourth digger, Adrian, who likes relics, apparently.

There is also a new section regarding responsible detecting.

Dear god, what a fuck up.

Nazi War Diggers Part 2

UPDATE 27/03 Please note that the Metal Detecting Forum threads linked to below have now been deleted.

Over on The Metal Detecting Forum discussion continues about the Nazi War Diggers programme in two threads here and here.

It would appear there is a going to be some sort of Q and A session which might address some of the obvious concerns.

I have to say I'm really struggling with Mr Gottliebs presence on the show. Having had a look at Mr Gottliebs website it's clear he sells Militaria. He will also let you know what your Militaria is worth. From his bio he's clearly done very well.

Now there is clearly a finite amount of such militaria that is not buried alongside the fallen and with interest in World War II militaria apparently on the increase I cant help but think that Mr Gottlieb has a vested interested in the looting of dead soldiers in that it fuels the increasing demand.

I would be interested to know what if any steps Mr Gottlieb and his History Hunters website go to to make sure that the items they appraise and buy haven't been looted from the bodies of the fallen, the same fallen that this programme seemingly goes out of its way to give a proper burial.

Oh just read the comments under a clip of the programme. Er not good, ie

'I also have an MA in Bioarchaeology, and I have a serious question. Why aren't these fellows in jail?'

 
Sadly looks like a case of no such thing as bad publicity (appreciate the irony in what I just wrote).

Without some bloody miracle this really doesn't look good for metal detectorists.

Still I did say I'd trust Addicted to Bleeps (one of the diggers) so here's hoping that short clip is not representative of the actual programme. I'm afraid I am pessimistic.

Nazi War Diggers

Paul Barford highlights a new television programme entitled 'Nazi War Diggers' where

 

'Three war diggers are racing against time to save this history from being looted or lost'

 

By 'looted' one wonders if this means by other detectorists (aka War Diggers?) who want to sell the belongings for money. This seems a bit like one of the diggers Mr Gottlieb who seems to have said

 

 “I feel that by selling things that are Nazi related and for lots of money, I’m preserving a part of history that museums don’t want to bother with”

 

I can't help but think if he did say this then perhaps he's encouraging the looting that he's now on a crusade to stop, apparently.

 

Anyway I'm obviously in danger of pre-judging a programme which may be far more like the efforts gone by many to give those killed in the second world war a proper burial as described in this BBC article.

 

Will the Three Detectorist be like the White Teams or Black Teams as per the aforementioned article...

 

 

These teams are known as the "white diggers", but there are also those dubbed "black diggers" who search for medals, guns, coins or even gold teeth which they sell online or to specialist dealers. They are not interested in identifying the soldiers - they just leave the bones in the ground.

 

 

 



 

Andy's back

Andy is back detecting at Andy's UK Metal Detecting Blog.

Welcome back Andy.

Andy's UK Metal Detecting Blog, book and Archaeology group

Shame to see Andy is not going to be updating his metal detecting blog any more for the foreseeable future. Good luck with your other projects.

I emailed Stephanie my FLO today for a contact for my local Archaeology Group as it would be nice to at least go out on some of their digs / field walking surveys to get at least a very basic idea of what they do. I think some / a lot of people get a metal detector because they look at Archaeology and think 'urg boring' I want to find treasure like Indy. Perhaps being a responsible detectorist is partly about try to show the historical not monetary value of finds. If the PAS don't have time to be proactive in spreading the word maybe it's about spreading the word for them. Hopefully their volunteer project will make this easier (haven't had a response to my email yet).

I was reading Heritage Action's post on deep seeking metal detectors especially the Minelab 5000 GPX and the comments between Andy Baines and Paul Barford yesterday and it raises some interesting points.

From reading Gary's Detecting review of it the machine appears to be a Pulse Indicating (PI) Machine with limited ability to discriminate out iron. PI's tend to go a lot deeper than Very Low Frequency (VLF) machines but unlike VLF's they aren't very good at indicating what sort of metal they have picked up.

This means if you use a PI machine on land you are going to be digging a lot of iron. I personally don't know anyone who uses a normal price range (up to about £2000) PI machine on land, ie non beach which I appreciate is still technically land :)

Metal detectorists generally don't like digging iron as it's not considered very interesting / valuable and there is a lot of it (that's probably another post in itself). A PI machine with its ability to go deeper than a VLF machine that could also discriminate out all Iron is probably the Holy Grail to many detectorists. I say many as I think it would have been for me to when I first started. However the more I consider the effects of digging below the ploughline. which such a 'perfect' machine would make commonplace, the less tempting buying such a machine if it ever comes to exist is. That's not to say it isn't tempting and this is where I have to fight my desire to find 'treasure' at any costs with the realisation that by doing so I might well be acting rather irresponsibly.

Anyway this PI machine seems to have some ability to discriminate iron and as such Gary seems to have pointed to how he might use it

'I use my GPX when I know there is a chance of finding something deep, quite often in area's known to have produced finds such as hoards or productive patches that have been worked with VLF machines, I always try to follow my own GPX rule in order to maximise my finds rate.'

Perhaps therefore this machine has its uses as part of an archaeological dig but I have to say when I first read Gary's statement it did rather seem like it might be favoured by nighthawkers who are more likely to target 'productive patches' or where hoards have been found. Obviously not saying Gary is one just that it might not be the most responsible of machines to use in most circumstances.

Oh yes my book turned up to.

Oh yeah finally people  use PI's on beaches as they are generally easier to dig and also many beaches are quite heavily 'mineralised' which in detecting speak means that VLF machines don't work very well as they think the 'mineralised' sand / clay is metal and thus go beep beep beep a lot at everything. The PI's aren't fussed about this sort of 'mineralised' stuff.*

I think this is correct please correct me if wrong!

The PAS volunteer expansion

In April 2013 the PAS realised news of a £17.600 lottery grant to develop a project for expanding its volunteer base in the hope of spreading the PAS word and also being able to record more items.  Since the comment below I haven't been able to see an update so I have emailed Claire today to see how the project is developing.

Claire Costin wrote @ 14:16:26 on the 24th April 2013.

Thank you for your comments. Although the project will be coordinated by the PAS central unit based at the BM, we will be spending the next year finding organisations within local communities to host the project hubs - this will form a large part of the development phase. These will be centred around local FLOs. The aim of the project is that the volunteers recruited will be properly trained, which is what we will be applying for funding for. This will help ensure best practice by all involved in the project. We also hope that the volunteers we recruit will stay involved in the project long-term.

My email.


Hi Claire

I hope you are well. I was reviewing the PAS news website and saw your article on the Lottery Fund first-round pass to expand it's volunteer base query dated 2nd April 2013. I was wondering how this project was developing as I would may be interested in any opportunities that the project presents. I recently set up a blog called 'The Responsible Detectorist' and one issue that has been discussed is the under recording of items which I understand is down to a number of factors one being the finite resources of the PAS and another being detectorists not handing over their finds for recording. I was therefore interested in seeing how / if the volunteer project is progressing as this would hopefully give detectorists less excuse to say they don't hand over finds because their FLO is to busy!

I look forward to your response.

http://theresponsibledetectorist.blogspot.co.uk/

Strange lead object and finds for today

Went out for a few hours today and this is the result. Nothing to retire on today but some curious little bits and pieces.

The lead object is quite interesting. Almost looks like a Colosseum pattern. Any ideas welcome!

The little brooch type object is pretty to. 

Will pop them in the FLO box and then back at work tomorrow so will have some more time to ponder a comment over on the 'About me' page on how to stop night-hawking.    

I also noticed some more moans about detecting rallies. Can't say they appeal to me apart from a chance to meet people I guess. 

First silver thimble and interesting badge

Had a few hours yesterday and found my first silver thimble. It's stamped London 1930. With today's throw away culture I imagine most kids haven't even ever seen a thimble or know what they were for.

More detail about the Unionist badge can be found here. Always fascinated at how such items end up in a field in Sussex.

Local museum

I realise this post might seem a bit trite but I had another wander around my local museum today. It was educational as always and so if you are bored this weekend why not wander around yours.

Underwater archaeology

Just a quick link from the bbc in case you haven't seen it regarding finding lost wrecks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26545418

Heritage crime

Got in touch with my FLO yesterday about finding out more about Heritage crime and nighthawking in Sussex and what I and other detectorists could do to help stop it. As a result of this I have been put in touch with a police officer who is just checking with his boss if it is ok to chat with me :)

Hopefully more updates on this when they get back to me.

Something to look into

From reading various blogs it would appear that there are some who say that detectorists should stop pulling items from the 10 or so inches of soil depth (can be deeper rarely) as this takes the item out of their  'archaeological context' but others who say an archaeological dig would just scrape up the top spoil and dump it in a heap so detectorists are finding stuff that would never otherwise have been found even on an archaeological dig.

Is a archaeological dig with detectorists the ideal solution although I guess this again presupposes the archaeologists know where to dig in the first place and can get permission.

I appreciate these are not new questions but they are new to me as well I'm newish to detecting.

Artefact conservation guide

Was browsing the PAS site and came across a useful little conservation guide. Worth a read if you're bored at work.

Archaeology is Rubbish

Sorry couldn't resist the title...

Anyway I was just looking to buy an idiots guide to archaeology and came across the book below and I wondered if anyone had read it and could recommend it?

Maybe as it's just £0.01 plus postage I'll buy it and read it anyway.

As a detectorist I feel that I ought to at least have some understanding of how archie's do their stuff and I think doing some more looking at what archaeologists do would give me a more rounded perspective of what responsible detecting is. Maybe.

 

One reason detecting fascinates me.

Finding out more about an object that you dig is one of the things that I increasingly love about detecting. The other day I found this.

At first I had no idea what it was. I thought maybe it was a silver cap badge as it had some hallmarks on the back and I had found some other badges in the area. I posted the object on a metal detecting forum and had some replies which suggested it was a Victorian hatpin made by Charles Horner. I have to say that the Forums can be really useful for identifying objects. One forgets what not having Google at the touch of a button was like.

To check the ID was right I thought I'd  try reading the hallmarks. I had never done this before but again a quick 'Google' of hallmarks and five minutes I think i is a Birmingham makers mark dated 1857.

Another search regarding Charles Horner shows he made some very similar hatpins but given he was born in 1837 it seems he was rather young at the time if his company did make it.



Curious as to whether his company made it I dug a little further and found out there is a Hat Pin Society of Great Britain so I have emailed them asking them if they are interested in the pin and if they have any more information about it.

Therefore after not knowing what the object was I have learnt about Hatpins, Charles Horner and that Hat Pin Society of Great Britain.

On reflecting about how this post might tie in with 'responsible' detecting I have a few observations.

1. The PAS do not currently voluntarily record these items as they aren't 300 years old. It strikes me that if the PAS isn't greatly expanded then by the time these items get old enough to be recorded there might be a whole lot less of them due to people like me.

2. If there weren't detectorists then would this item have ever been found anyway?

3. I don't know enough about how archaeologists go looking for places to dig (will have to find out).

4. How many items really are lost to the plough, chemicals etc. I hear this a lot from detectorists as a reason to dig but I don't know how much there is in it.

Comment moderation

Just a quicky, so to speak. Sometimes I won't publish a comment if its only purpose is to be rude. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the commentator reading the blog and it doesn't mean that I disagree with it but I'm trying to promote a reasonably pleasant arena for debate. Anonymous comments are certainly more likely to get stuck eternally in the moderation queue.

I'm not yet a 'perfect being' so there may be times such comments slip the net.

A slight name change

To make the point of the blog a bit clearer I've updated the explanation below the title. What is responsible detecting?

Why should we care?

Who does care?

Is there actually an answer, or are there lots of answers each equally valid?

Paul Barford suggests a change of name for this blog

From the below link where my post below was discussed.

https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=8174756573570334952&postID=989979185631645048&page=1&token=1394713247560&isPopup=true

'So why not rename your blog "Detectorist Without a Clue" and then it's clear what you are offering people. OK?'

I imagine he doesn't care but oddly I actually quite like Paul. I think he has some valid ideas. I think with this one though I'll pass.

Here's a big cuddle for you Paul. Sounds like you're having a bad day.

Coin find adds to history

Hat tip to Janner53's blog for linking to the story about a rare coin found near Nottingham. The detectorist could have just pulled the coin out, put in a box and then forgotten about it. Instead it sounds like he recorded the find with his Local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO). On my understanding of the Treasure Act 1996 he did not have to report this item as possible treasure nor did he have to get it recorded.  As you will note from the article it's great that he did as not only did it reveal the monetary value of the coin but also the historical.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/what-s-on/out-about/sheffield-metal-detection-fan-nets-find-of-a-lifetime-1-6491544

Therefore if you are a detectorist and have anything in your finds box that you have not identified then why not take them to your local FLO.

For me personally if one silver coin can be so historically and monetarily valuable it makes one wonder if the Treasure Act 1996 shouldn't be amended to include single coin finds with 10 pct precious metal content rather than the current state of play whereby you have to find two coins before reporting it. In reality who is to know if you found the coins at the same time? I imagine this is sadly used by some / many detectorists not to record a possible treasure find.

Maybe there could be some sort of accelerated process with such single coin finds as there are a lot of them and the majority could probably be discounted as being 'rare' etc rather quickly. Just random thoughts really as it would appear that there is a danger of losing out on history by not having them recorded.

Day in the life of a Finds Liaison officer (FLO)

I saw the article linked to below on the Metal Detecting Forum and was worth a read. I personally find it sad that not even all the members of a Detecting Association would want to hand their items over for recording.

I also note that the FLO referred to the fact that the members liked to show their 'best finds' and I can only wonder whether they had lots of 'other finds' that could have been recorded on the PAS. Also I think I've learnt that 'best' might just mean most monetarily valuable and this might not be the same as 'best' in terms of historical / archaeological interest.

http://finds.org.uk/getinvolved/guides/dayinthelife


One day i'll be able to spell 'archaeological' without the spellcheck.

FLO, the PAS and recording

Finds Liaison's Officers or FLO's are the people employed to record finds onto the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Website. If you're a metal detectorist or indeed anyone else for that matter you should have a look at the PAS which is pretty much a giant database of finds.

Personally I can understand why it's important to record what you find. You only find the item once. Pull the item out of the ground and that's it, no second chance. Whilst people state* that finding the item in the course of an archaeological dig will lead to a better understanding of the context of the find the reality is that the majority of finds are made by metal detectorists outside of an archaeological dig.

*I say 'people state' because I do not know about archaeology to instantly think 'because it's an archaeological dig that means it gives more context than a detectorist finding an item.' I imagine that's the case but I like to make informed decisions.

There are as I understand it two ways that items get recorded. One is for Treasure type items, defined by the Treasure Act 1996, that people have a legal obligation to report. The other type of recording is voluntary recording in that FLO's like to record everything over 300 years old. I think it's important to be clear when talking about recording what you mean as when detectorists say they 'record' everything then from my experience this can mean just the items they are legally responsible for recording ie Treasure items rather than the voluntarily recorded items which are a far larger proportion of items that a detectorist will find.

As a metal detectorist I realise that if I just go home with my finds for the day and put them in a box then no one else will ever benefit from what I find. Whilst my original motives for detecting were quite selfish this doesn't mean that I don't like to share what I find. The more that I've detected the more I've enjoyed researching and sharing items I've found (not that many admittedly I guess).

Getting my local FLO to look at what I've found to see what they might want to record is great as they will be able identify stuff that I can't. Furthermore they then record the item and I feel that in someway I've added to the 'bigger historical picture' (again I appreciate that there are some doubts over the value of the PAS in this regard).

I can now use the PAS to look at the finds I've had recorded and I print these pages out and put them in a little folder. My aim is to have a really big file full of recorded pages. I think I might use my folder when looking for permissions as at least I can show a prospective landowner that I do try and detect in a responsible way so maybe by voluntarily recording items it's a win win.

You can find details of how to find your local FLO here

You can find the PAS here

Random wandering and recording finds

When I first started detecting my approach to detecting was to randomly pick a field on my permission and then randomly wander over it. These days I try to be a bit more methodical, whilst it's difficult given the permission isn't vast I realise it's better to know what parts you have and haven't covered.

I tried a bit more of a methodical approach yesterday for a few hours and after came upon a nice spot with a good range of items.  Amongst them were my nicest looking button to date and my oldest readable halfpenny from 1753. The key is a barrel tap key and the bent coin is a love token. I think the finds are all from about 1750 - 1880.

The more I detect on the permission the bigger the picture I get from it as there will be odd spots where for no obvious reason finds from a certain age will come up. I guess this is where learning more about archaeology comes into it. I appreciate by finding the items they won't be found again but if the landowner isn't interested in an archaeological dig then is it best just not to bother digging at all?

Perhaps before I started detecting I should have printed off a big map of the site and then I could have marked off what I had found where on the map. Hrm I think I will try to do that as can then mark off on the map the pictures of the finds linked to that area.

Oh yeah it was quite nice when the landowner said that his daughter had taken a little silver ring I had given to her class 'Show and Tell' and told them it was from their 'Treasure Hunter'!

Click the picture to enlarge.

So I just joined the BAJR Federation Forum

So before reading a post on Paul Barford's blog I had never heard of the BAJR. Yes I've already admitted how archeologically (is that a word?) naive I am (does it matter, I don't know) so off I go to have a good read on what they are all on about on the Forum and make my own mind up about the results to said read!

I've also tried to join their facebook page but as I only created an account for that very purpose I imagine they think i'm a nasty

Janner's Blog

Just a quick little shout for Janner53's blog

I very much enjoy reading it, so arguements, no fighting, just a nice metal detecting blog!

What is responsible detecting on a beach?

Last week I went twice to a beach I've never been to. Previous to this visit I've only been detecting about 10 times and whilst it has been nice to get some fresh air I've only ever tended to dig up ring pulls, bits of aluminium, big bits of iron, the odd coin and the odd fishing weight.

On my first visit to the beach I found that it had been really stripped back due to the winter storms. Predecimal and only predecimal coins were either laying on the surface or were just an inch or two down. In 3 or so hours I found 79 of them. They were all from about 1910 - 1950. I found very little apart from coins.

I went back about 4 or 5 days later and found that the beach had started to sand up a bit. Interestingly instead of turning right when I got onto the beach I turned left and all day I found no coin older than 1950. Indeed out of about 40 coins the majority were decimal. I also found 25 fishing weights and my first gold ring. The gold ring was way below the high tide mark, it had not just been dropped.

I found next to no ring pulls, aluminium etc.

I picked up and binned the iron that I found.

I back filled all my holes properly.

I stopped and talked to people who seemed interested.

I thought that ring looked a bit old and knackered and had been in the sea for some time. I did not at the time report it as lost.

On reflection I should have reported the ring. I will be doing that this afternoon. Even though the chances are it's been in the sea for yonks I should have at least reported it if not just to clear my conscious.

Apart from not reporting the ring I wonder if I could do anything more. What had happened to the beach was really interesting but how to I report that, does anyone else care?

Have I harmed anyone or anything by doing what I did?

How would an 'archeologist' see what I did?

Why did I start metal detecting?

'To understand the detectorist is to change the detectorist'

- Old Buddhist saying

On holiday one day I saw a man on a beach with a detector. I thought to myself 'oh I fancy that' and here I am 18 months later blogging about it (yeah I haven't been doing it for long, I'm not an 'old guard' as one might say).

On reflection I ask myself 'why did I fancy it?' Were the reasons for starting detecting selfish, were they to 'better to society', were they to record history etc? Does it matter? I don't know.

In order of priority my reasons for starting detecting are as below. The reasons I detect now are I believe different and a subject for a later post. If detecting is a 'lawful' pursuit then are any of the reasons 'better' than others. Maybe. I think so.

So here goes.

1. The chance to find valuable stuff / a hoard - I'm being honest. No reason not to be. There is something deeply enticing, attractive even, about the chance to change your life with the dig of a hole. If not to change your life to find something valuable and yes I will say monetarily valuable. When I saw the man with the detector I wanted to find a gold ring, then one gold ring turned into more. Just like many people play the lottery afterall, it's for that chance. I'm not saying detecting is better than playing the lottery by the way!

2. To find 'old things'. I did ancient history and history 'A' Level. I liked the idea of finding 'old things' valuable or not. Did I have any knowledge about finding 'old things' in an archaeological context. Nope, not unless you count having watched a lot of Indiana Jones.

3. To learn about 'old things' - this rather goes with the point above but I know of people who like finding 'old things' but then bin / store said 'old thing' without actually learning anything about said 'old thing'. I rather liked the idea of learning more about the 'old things' that one might find.

4. To have some me time - It's selfish yes but that's why blokes have sheds isn't it?

5. To meet some like minded people - as well as having some solitary me time I liked the idea of having a 'hobby' where I could meet like minded people.

6. It's pretty cheap for a hobby. I bought a euroace, a pinpointer, a spade and er some wellies. All in about £340 ish I think. Not a bad outlay for hobby that might give me the chance to find my fortune.

So there we go that's why I started.

My journey starts

So today I found a blog called 'Tonyrobinsonspants'. It looks like a new blog the author of which discusses a Facebook site for the BAJR. Not knowing what the BAJR I've just signed up to facebook and requested to join their group so I can have a look.

I've also created links for two other sites that I read, one is Paul Barfords 'Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues' and the other is Steve Brooms 'I go Detecting'.

It was actually as a result of reading Paul's blog that I started this one. That doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything he says but it did get me to think further about what I do as a detectorist and how what I do might impact society.

Hello and Welcome

What's a responsible detectorist?

Some might say there can be no such thing.

Some might way say who cares if you're responsible or not

Some might say most detectorists are responsible

My honest is I don't know what is responsible detectoring. Bit odd given the name of the blog I admit but perhaps in part that's the point as this blog will hopefully be a journey in exploring what being responsible detectorist is all about and even if there can be such a thing. It's also a chance for me to have a ramble about what i've found and the hobby in general.

Certainly I think one can start off with at least being aware of and following the below.

Rules re your responsibility to report possible treasure

Portible Antiquties Scheme guidance on reporting treasure

The Treasure Act 1996

The Treasure Act 1996 Code of Guidance

Being Insured

NCMD Insurance

Digging in a responsible way

The Portable Antiquties Scheme Code of Practice

NCMD Code of Conduct