A history of archaeological thought pdf to jpg

#A history of archaeological thought pdf to jpg full

Photograph: West Mercia Police/AFP via Getty Images Some of the treasures, believed to be Anglo-Saxon, that were discovered in the biggest nighthawking case in British history, involving George Powell and Layton Davies. If your find is significant, you may be in line for financial compensation from the treasure valuation committee. If you find treasure вЂ“ gold or silver вЂ“ you have to report it. In England and Wales, you need permission from the landowner to go metal-detecting, unless the site is historically protected, in which case all metal-detecting is illegal. All objects found must be reported within two weeks. In Northern Ireland, it is illegal to remove any archaeological items from the ground without the landownerвЂ™s written consent. After all, who can police all the fields in the country? the data we have got suggests it is increasing, but that may be because more attention is paid to it now.вЂќ In other words, we simply do not know, because most nighthawkers tend to get away with it. According to Nicholas, вЂњThe data is really bad on it. вЂњI am not seeing more cases in my in-tray,вЂќ says the former policeman. But Mark Harrison, who heads Historic EnglandвЂ™s nighthawking investigations, is not so sure. вЂњI think it is going up, as metal-detecting equipment becomes cheaper and more easily available, and more people take up the hobby,вЂќ says Sgt Rob Simpson of Cheshire policeвЂ™s rural crime team. Those tasked with fighting this crime also disagree on whetherВ it is increasing. Nighthawkers have targeted some of our most famous historical sites, including HadrianвЂ™s Wall and Old Sarum in Dorset. A 2010 report from Historic England, however, hints at how widespread the crime may really be: 17% of the farmers it had surveyed had been afflicted by nighthawks. вЂњAt the end of the day, itвЂ™s just a hole in a field,вЂќ says Dr Louise Nicholas, an expert on heritage crime at Loughborough University. Many simply mark it as theft, or trespass, while many cases are never reported because it is impossible to say what has been taken. There is no marker on the national police database for the crime, so police forces vary in how they record it (although there is one for nighthawking on scheduled monuments).

#A history of archaeological thought pdf to jpg full

No one knows the full extent of nighthawking in the UK, or whether it is increasing. Wilson had just caught two nighthawkers in the act вЂ“ or she would have, had they not scarpered. Wilson took their details and went to check with the landowner. The men claimed they thought metal-detecting was a form of permitted exercise (it was not), and said that they had been given permission by the landowner. Wilson asked the men if they had permission to metal-detect there and if they realised they were breaking the lockdown rules. A week earlier, on 20 April, PCSO Sarah Wilson of Cheshire policeвЂ™s rural crime team was on a routine patrol when she noticed two men metal-detecting in a stream in the village of Wildboarclough. The Gray Hill nighthawking was discovered by Gwent police on 6 May. But we know what they were doing: nighthawking, illegally metal-detecting for historic artefacts, to be kept for personal collections or sold on the black market for private gain.Д®ven the coronavirus lockdown did not stop nighthawkers. No one knows what they stole that day and no one knows how they came to be there Gray Hill is not a place you happen upon by chance. They dug four large holes, pocketing whatever they found, replaced the turf and disappeared. Stealthily, they beep-beeped their way across the scrubland, metal detectors in hand.

Here, if the weather is clear, you can look out towards the Severn estuary.Д«ut these people вЂ“ there was probably more than one of them вЂ“ were not here to enjoy the view, but to commit a crime. From here, it is a stiff, scrambling climb up Gray Hill, towards a cluster of ancient standing stones that loom out of scrubland like broken teeth. It was probably early morning when the car pulled up at a wooden fence, on which were carved the words вЂњGRAY HILL, COMPTONвЂќ. They turned off the main road and drove a quarter of a mile down a single track dark with trees, past the occasional house and fields of rolling countryside. Only their equipment would have given them away: metal detectors, a shovel and a spade, that they humped uncomfortably up a vertiginous path. I f you had seen them, you might have thought they were ramblers or dog walkers вЂ“ locals snatching some fresh air as the nation hunkered indoors during lockdown.