The Portable Antiquities Scheme will have its funding maintained at £1.3 million for the next year, according to the British government. In December last year there was a backlash to the announcement from the Museums Libraries and Archive Council that funding for the scheme would be cut by 25 per cent. The scheme now appears to be safe for the time being.
Even those with reservations about the PAS’s promotion of metal detecting as a legitimate form of historical enquiry objected to the proposed funding cut, which would have brought an end to the scheme. There is little doubt that the PAS staff have been highly effective and have built up an important resource. Over 300,000 objects have been catalogued and the scheme has stimulated several excavation and research projects.
But problems remain, concerning the value of this information, and the ethics of legitimising unsystematic treasure hunting. What precedent does this set in trying to combat looting in Britain and throughout the world? In what direction is it leading the practice of archaeology? Now seems a good time to have some frank debate about whether the current regime is working, and whether private treasure hunting should continue to be promoted through government funded bodies.
Tags: metal detecting, Museums Libraries and Archives Council, Portable Antiquities Scheme
