The Portable Antiquities Scheme

11/02/2025

Today saw the launch of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (2023) and Treasure (2022) annual reports at the British Museum. The event allowed for the showcasing of several interesting new finds:

An Anglo-Saxon gold and garnet necklace from Donington on Bain, Lincolnshire (LIN-1DABA5), which Lincoln Museum and Usher Gallery is hoping to acquire. The jewellery would have been worn by, and buried with, a woman of high-status in the 7th century.

An early post-medieval gold ‘phoenix’ signet ring found in Central Bedfordshire (BH-AC29D6) which either Bedford Museum or Historic Royal Palaces hope to acquire. The phoenix was associated with Elizabeth I and this may have been worn (and lost!) by one of her supporters.

A silver coin of Aethelstan II – the baptismal name of the Viking leader Guthrum of East Anglia, found near Thetford, Norfolk (PAS-D68238). The first silver coin minted by a Scandinavian ruler in Britain, this is the first item declared Treasure under the new ‘significance-based’ definition of Treasure. Hopefully Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery will acquire.

A Bronze Age gold-worker’s hoard discovered bear Urchfont, Wiltshire (WILT-C97E23). Wiltshire Museum hopes to acquire the hoard. The finder thankfully stopped digging when he realised what he had found, allowing archaeologists to block life the hoard and bring it to the British Museum for micro-excavation. This led to the discovery inside the hoard of a rare anvil, used by an ancient craftsman.

The reports themselves highlighted near record levels of finds submitted for voluntary recording to the PAS (over 70,000) and those reported under the Treasure Act (1,358) in 2023. The reports are available here: https://finds.org.uk/publications

Thanks to British Museum colleagues for photos!

13/12/2024

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03/12/2024

This exciting discovery was just announced by Museums Worcestershire, who hope to acquire the Hoard through the Treasure process:

Please help us to purchase a hoard of gold Iron Age and silver Roman denarii coins or they may become lost forever.

20/11/2024

Thank you to Derek Wood, the finder of this Early Medieval gold plate, and to the landowner, for waiving a claim to a reward under the Treasure Act and donating it to Littlehampton Museum!

Experts from Littlehampton Museum believe the small gold plate may have been decoration on a sword.

15/11/2024

A big thank you to Marian Campbell and Harry Bain for 10 years of fantastic public service on the Treasure Valuation Committee!

01/11/2024

Thank you very much to the finder and to the landowner, Ms Sarah Adams, for donating this silver-gilt mount to the British Museum through the Treasure process. Here is the PAS database record, where the bust is described as being of an Moor, Arab or Saracen: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1047273

11/10/2024

Thank you very much to David Carr, the finder of this Roman silver snake ring, for waiving a claim to a reward and allowing it to go to Southend Museum at reduced expense. Nice work! https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1050767

04/10/2024

Well-done! This Medieval silver finger-ring (DUR-9A7BDC) found in Stapleton, North Yorkshire has now been acquired by The Yorkshire Museumthanks to the finder and the landowner, Mr David Bartlett who waived a claim to a reward through the Treasure process. Thank you!

01/10/2024

The Novium in Chichester has launched a Crowdfunder campaign to raise some of the money required for the acquisition of an Early Medieval gold and garnet pyramid mount found near Stopham, West Sussex.

Help us to raise £9000 to keep a rare Saxon treasure find, discovered near Stopham, within Chichester District!

23/09/2024

Thanks to all who contributed to this fantastic conference this past weekend at the British Museum. Friday night saw a special gallery tour by Head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Prof Michael Lewis. Saturday's talks and discussion on the theme 'Artefacts, Landscapes and Collaborative Research' is also featured in a special essay collection, published here: https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ymed20/collections/Artefacts_and_landscapes
Thank you to all those finders of archaeological objects, particularly metal detector users who record their finds, for making such research possible!

20/09/2024

We're really looking forward to tomorrow's conference, 'Artefacts, Landscapes and Collaborative Research' at the British Museum, which we are jointly hosting with the Society for Medieval Archaeology.

The Society for Medieval Archaeology was established to study evidence of the past, whether standing buildings, landscapes, buried remains or artefacts in museums.

19/09/2024

Many many thanks to the finder of this Early Medieval gold bracteate, Michael Kerr, and to the landowner, for waiving a claim to a reward under the Treasure Act and allowing it go into the collection of Lincoln Museum at no expense. The bracteate was found near Bourne, Lincolnshire, and the Portable Antiquities Scheme database record is here: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1112428

15/08/2024

National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) are recruiting for an Archaeological Finds Officer, based at their corporate headquarters just east of Belfast. This is a great opportunity to enable the recording of finds made by members of the public and support the processing of finds of Treasure. Closing date is 28th of August! https://ce0568li.webitrent.com/ce0568li_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID%3d2936544T2m%1BUSESSION=5D0B7E7E36B547EDD75EC2346D3CBF0A&WVID=8613021hvt&LANG=USA

15/11/2023

This Late Bronze age gold arm ring, found in St Bees, Cumbria next to the Irish Sea, has just been jointly acquired by Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery Trust and The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven under the Treasure Act 1996. Hooray!

24/08/2023

We have an updated 'Advice for Finders' leaflet available on the PAS website. A properly designed version, Welsh language version, and printed copies are in the works! In the meantime, do share this link

25/07/2023

We are taking part in lots of events around England and Wales as part of - hope to see you at one of these!

We are excited to be par…

19/07/2023

Here's an insightful post from Finds Liaison Assistant Red Ellis-Haken on the contribution to knowledge of finds recorded with the PAS - specifically their contribution to the understanding of Celtic art. https://finds.org.uk/counties/blog/advancing-knowledge-the-portable-antiquities-scheme-contribution-to-early-celtic-art-studies-part-1/

Early ‘Celtic’ Art, also known as La Tène art, is a pan-European phenomenon, examples of which can be seen as far west as Ireland and as far east as Turkey. Beginning in still mysterious circumstan…

17/07/2023

As part of this year's Festival of Archaeology, Treasure Registrar Jess Romano has written this informative blog post on the Treasure process: https://finds.org.uk/counties/blog/treasure-explained-a-look-into-what-is-treasure-and-the-treasure-process/ Enjoy!

The Treasure Act works to protect and preserve a variety of artefacts found across the UK so that we may not only better understand the lives and stories of people in the past, but also share them …