Portable Antiquities Conference Presentations Now Online

Last weekend the CBA co-organised, along with the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS), a conference on Portable Antiquities: Archaeology, Collecting and Metal Detecting.

Papers were deliberately included that represented a range of perspectives and opinions from archaeological, metal detecting and collecting communities and backgrounds. Among the items discussed and presented was the much-awaited new Portable Antiquities Scheme website (pictured), which will be made live in early April. Recent doctoral and Masters-level research into and involving metal detecting was also presented, demonstrating the wide range of research potential that is possible, particularly when active cooperation between archaeologists and metal-detector users is sought and cultivated.

CBA Director, Dr Mike Heyworth, said:

It was a well organised event which allowed an exchange of views on topics connected with portable antiquities. Inevitably there were disagreements, but these were discussed rationally, and it was particularly helpful to cover issues relating to collecting which are very relevant when considering metal detecting and archaeology, but often left out of consideration.

Kev Woodward, a conference attendee and co-presenter of a paper describing the role of the United Kingdom Detector Net (UKDN) said:

I have been to a few meetings like these before and this was definitely the best atmosphere one has been held in.

A review of the conference will feature in the next CBA members newsletter, which all CBA members and CBA affiliate members receive. To view the presentations, visit the conference web page conference web page.