Treasure and Portable Antiquities
Statistical release – 23 July 2010
Purpose of release
This statistical release presents the number finds reported Treasure (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and objects recorded through the Portable Antiquities Scheme (in England and Wales) in 2008.
The Treasure Act 1996
The Treasure Act 1996 replaced the common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This has been further supplemented by the 2003 Treasure (Designation) Order. The Treasure Act sets out the definition of Treasure, which includes the metallic composition required for a find to qualify as Treasure and it extends the definition of Treasure to include other objects found in archaeological association with finds of Treasure. The Act confirms that Treasure vests in the Crown, or the franchisee if there is one, subject to prior interests and rights. It simplifies the task of coroners in determining whether or not a find is Treasure and it includes an offence of non-declaration of Treasure. Lastly, it states that occupiers and landowners will have the right to be informed of finds of Treasure from their land and that they will be eligible for rewards. 
The Portable Antiquities Scheme
The Portable Antiquities Scheme was established by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in 1997 to record archaeological finds found by the public.  It also has an important educational role, enabling children and adults alike to learn about archaeology, get involved and bring the past to life. The work of the Scheme is guided by the Portable Antiquities Advisory Group and (following the Review of PAS in 2009) a Portable Antiquities Management Group, providing a clear distinction between the management of PAS and policy relating to portable antiquities related issues, such as environmental stewardship schemes, metal-detecting rallies, and illicit metal-detecting. 

The PAS has been a key factor in the success of the Treasure Act and the large increase in reported Treasure finds. Through working with metal detecting groups and others, the Scheme’s Finds Liaison Officers (FLOs) are able to explain the system of Treasure reporting and encourage detectorists and others to report their finds.  

Key messages
•	In 2008 806 finds of Treasure were reported.
•	In 2008 53,346 finds were recorded on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database (www.finds.org.uk).  
•	In 2008 82 parties waived their right to a reward in 51 cases of Treasure, allowing them to be acquired by museums at no (or reduced) public cost. 

Guide to the data included in this release

This statistical release presents the number of Treasure and Portable Antiquities Scheme finds recorded by county in 2008. The release contains 7 tables which show the number of finds:

Treasure finds in 2008 

Number of Treasure cases by geographic distribution [see xls on main page]

Analysis of 2008 Treasure Finds by Period and Category - England & Wales (Accurate as of 1 July 2010) 

Object Cases							
	Disclaimed/RTF	Acquired*	Donated	Not Treasure	To Be Determined	Total	
Bronze Age	6	14	5	-	1	26	
Iron Age	1	6	-	-	1	8	
Romano-British	35	14	5	4	4	62	
Early Medieval	19	30	7	4	5	65	
Medieval	112	70	18	9	2	211	
Post-Medieval	144	43	15	30	5	237	
18th-20th Centuries	-	-	-	41	-	41	
Undiagnostic	9**	-	-	43	2	54	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Totals	326	177	50	131	20	704	
						 	
Coin Cases							
	Disclaimed/RTF	Acquired*	Donated	Not Treasure	To Be Determined	Total	
Bronze Age	-	-	-	-	-	-	
Iron Age	5	5	1	1	1	13	
Romano-British	15	19	-	4	7	45	
Early Medieval	3	3	-	-	1	7	
Medieval	9	8	-	1	3	21	
Post-Medieval	8	2	-	1	 	11	
18th-20th Centuries	-	-	-	1	-	1	
Undiagnostic	-	-	-	-	1	1	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Totals	40	37	1	8	13	99	
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Overall	357	214	51	139	33	803	

782 in England  / 21 in Wales
* this covers finds that have been acquired as well as finds where museums have made an expression of interest, but have not yet acquired
**Includes objects 'of age' but not attributable to a particular historic period

Method of discovery of finds of Treasure for England and Wales 

		Number of finds	%	
Metal detecting	 	749	93.28%	
Archaeological find	 	33	4.11%	
Chance find	 	16	1.99%	
Reported by buyer	 	5	0.62%	
Total		803	100.00%	

Method of discovery of finds of Treasure for Northern Ireland 

		Number of finds	%	
Metal detecting	 	1	33.33%	
Chance find	 	2	66.67%	
Total		3	100.00%	

Portable Antiquities Scheme finds in 2008

Note: The following tables are taken from the PAS database (www.finds.org.uk), where the data is updated constantly and is therefore subject to change.
  
Objects recorded by geographical area [see xls on main page]

Objects recorded by class (where known) 

 	Coins	Metal objects	Worked stone	Pottery	Total	
North West 	624	526	147	207	1,504	

%	41.49	34.97	9.78	13.76	 	
North East	50	139	37	7	233	

%	21.46	59.66	15.88	0.03	 	
Yorkshire & the Humber	229	5,175	460	577	6,441	

%	3.55	80.35	7.14	8.96	 	
West Midlands 	791	1,177	82	1,037	3,087	

%	25.62	38.13	2.66	33.59	 	
East Midlands 	4,187	7,883	367	340	12,777	

%	32.77	61.70	2.87	2.66	 	
East	4,437	5,220	260	1,173	11,090	

%	40.01	47.07	2.34	10.58	 	
South West	1,190	2,055	380	3,260	6,885	

%	17.28	29.85	5.52	47.35	 	
South East & London	3,657	4,504	480	516	9,157	

%	39.94	49.19	5.24	5.63	 	
Wales 	218	343	29	12	602	

%	36.21	56.98	4.82	1.99	 	
Total	15,383 	27,022 	2,242 	7,129 	51,776 	
%	29.71 	52.19 	4.33 	13.77 	 	

Objects recorded by period (where known) 
 	Stone Age	Bronze Age	Iron Age	Roman	Early Med	Med	Post Med	Total	
North West 	135	18	6	507	15	369	469	1,519	
%	08.89	01.18	00.39	33.38	00.99	24.29	30.88		
North East	37	22	5	46	8	75	69	262	
%	14.12	08.40	01.91	17.56	03.05	28.62	26.34		
Yorkshire & the Humber	402	71	95	2,574	366	1,659	1,294	6,461	
%	06.22	01.10	01.47	39.84	05.66	25.68	20.03		
West Midlands 	77	165	69	1,400	45	728	632	3,116	
%	02.47	05.30	02.22	44.93	01.44	23.36	20.28		
East Midlands 	355	54	107	8,952	309	1,736	1,264	12,777	
%	02.78	00.42	00.84	70.06	02.42	13.59	09.89		
East	228	328	278	5,558	598	2,681	1,419	11,090	
%	02.05	02.96	02.51	50.12	05.39	24.17	12.80		
South West	351	365	1,662	2,238	101	1,382	793	6,892	
%	05.09	05.30	24.11	32.47	01.47	20.05	11.51		
South East & London	434	330	421	2,837	471	2,545	2,562	9,600	
%	04.52	03.44	04.38	29.55	04.91	26.51	26.69		
Wales 	26	13	5	161	4	176	223	608	
%	04.27	02.14	00.82	26.48	00.66	28.95	36.68		
Total	2,045	1,366	2,648	24,273	1,917	11,351	8,725	52,325	
%	03.91	02.61	05.06	46.39	03.66	21.69	16.68		

Method of discovery (where known) 

	Metal Detecting	Chance Find whilst Metal Detecting	Field-walking	Other Chance find / Gardening	Controlled Archaeological Investigation	Building / Agricultural Work	Total	
North West 	1,176	21	264	49	0	14	1,524	
%	77.16	01.38	17.32	03.22	00.00	00.92		
North East	176	0	31	6	2	1	216	
%	81.48	00.00	14.35	02.78	00.93	00.46		
Yorkshire & Humber	5,487	534	258	238	5	3	6,525	
%	84.09	08.18	03.95	03.65	00.08	00.05		
West Midlands 	2,038	301	488	216	3	96	3,142	
%	64.86	09.58	15.53	06.87	00.10	03.06		
East Midlands 	12,424	238	160	63	5	4	12,894	
%	96.35	01.85	01.24	00.49	00.04	00.03		
East	10,382	254	46	674	3	24	11,383	
%	91.21	02.23	00.40	05.92	00.03	00.21		
South West	3,270	320	997	2,337	3	13	6,940	
%	47.12	04.61	14.37	33.67	00.04	00.19		
South East & London	8,746	165	273	540	8	20	9,752	
%	89.68	01.69	02.80	05.54	00.08	00.21		
Wales 	569	0	30	15	1	4	619	
%	91.92	00.00	4.85	2.42	00.16	00.65		
Total	44,268	1,833	2,547	4,138	30	179	52,995	
%	83.53	03.46	04.80	07.81	00.06	00.34		

Formats of statistical release

This release is available in word/excel and Pdf format

Previous reports

Statistics covering previous years can be found at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/6411.aspx

Next release of data

The next release of data will take place in the first quarter of  2011 and will include data for 2009. 

Methodology

The data presented here is collected by the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure, British Museum and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (www.finds.org.uk).  

Contact for enquiries:

Department for Culture, Media and Sport
2-4 Cockspur Street
London SW1Y 5DH

evidence@culture.gsi.gov.uk

The responsible analyst for this release is Peter Antonaides
For enquiries on this release contact: 020 7 211 6188
For general enquiries telephone: 020 7211 6000