Finds Day – Saturday 15th October

Have you ever found something, maybe from simply walking in fields, gardening or metal detecting?

Finds Day is an exciting FREE special event taking place at Beaminster Museum from 10am on Saturday, 15th October. An opportunity for you to bring along your archelogical find and have it/them identified and recorded by Dorset Council’s Finds Liaison Officer, Ciorstaidh Hayward Trevarthen.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by the public. If recorded, these finds have the potential to tell us much about the past, such as how and where people lived and about the types of objects they made and used. The PAS only want to record information about your finds, not retain them, so they will give your finds back once recorded unless they are classed as Treasure.

Archaeologist Ciorstaidh Hayward Trevarthen (pictured) says there is a procedure that the finders need to follow.
“If it falls into the category covered by the Treasure Act then it needs to be reported to the coroner. That needs to happen within fourteen days. Then it goes through a long process of assessment and we find out whether a museum wants it. If they do, it goes to an inquest with the coroner. A specialist report will decide whether it fits the criteria for treasure. Broadly, objects have to be over 300 years old and more than 10% precious metal,” she explained to Alfred’s Keri Jones in an interview when she visited Shaftsbury in March.

“I don’t just record metal objects, I recall pottery, flint, tile, clay pipe and all sorts of things that come off the land. I’m keen to see everything. When people find the treasure, they often bring me the other things that they find on the same field to see if it is associated. It’s something we have to consider with treasure in particular.”

A drop-in event, there’s no need to book an appointment but you may have to queue.

Hosted by Beaminster Museum.