Metal Detecting Q&A

[BAJR Host]

Is it time then to produce a new set of guidlines that represents todays detecting rather than when they were originally set up...

If people have hard guidlines and standards it only increases repspect for the hobby and makes it even more useful to the wider 'heritage' issues. You rightly point out problems in archaeology, but we do now have codes of conducts and standards (see IFA - http://www.archaeologists.net/modules/ic...hp?page=15

Code of conduct
Code of approved practice for the regulation of contractual arrangements in field archaeology
Disciplinary code
Regulations for the Registration of Archaeological Organisations
Groups by-law
Standards
Introduction to Standards and Guidance (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for desk-based assessment (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for field evaluation (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for Excavation (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for an archaeological watching brief (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for the archaeological investigation and recording of standing buildings or structures (PDF)
Standard and Guidance for the collection, documentation, conservation and research of archaeological materials (PDF)
Appendices to Standards (PDF)
Policy Statements
For information on
Equal Opportunities
Health and Safety
The use of volunteers and students on archaeological projects
Environmental Protection

This gives clear (ish) standards which are seen as a minimum to adhere to... makes everyones life easier as you can see what you should be doing.

the NCMD Code is short and vague in places... ie... report unusual finds... but no definition of what is classed as unusual.. one persons common find is anothers' unusual.. and why report it only to the landowner - and there is no mention of why not to dig too deep, or what happens to subsurface features. Locations of finds in an area might make sense only after many years and only if finds are located properly. A hundred musket balls from a field are just so many musket balls until they are plotted.. then they could represent (as in one recent case) an unknown battleline from the Civil War.

There is also no mention of archaeologists or county archaeologists or SMRs or what they are used for... etc etc.

Could be time for a change... same as archaeology.





Another day another WSI?