| Self Recording with the Portable Antiquities Scheme |
The actual concept of allowing members of the public enter data onto the database, was one of the requirements of the Scheme’s funding. This aspect of the scheme is in the very first steps of it’s evolution and will only improve. If people are interested, contact your local FLO
Workflow diagram of how Self Reporting works – click on the image for more details
I went along to see Essex FLO, Caroline McDonald and was gently introduced to the arcane arts of finds description and recording! As an exercise we described a pencil that had been repeatedly sharpened to the point of it being very nearly a stub, in exhaustive detail. An awful lot of work for such a seemingly mundane thing! Let me tell you, recording finds is not an easy task by any means and the work that goes into each & every one is quite staggering! Us detectorists might remember this next time we feel that finds are going a little too slowly through the system for our liking?
Self-recording is challenging and rewarding, but far from easy. Anyone who thinks it will be a simple task had better think again. A really good find can take hours to prepare and even a scrap of a brooch or a broken buckle must be tackled with equal energy and enthusiasm.
Being able to upload data and build a comprehensive record of a find, site or landscape is a great thing..but it is no cakewalk. Rules must be adhered to otherwise what we will get in the end is unintelligible babble, loads of people describing the self-same thing differently, rendering the database more or less unusable. Luckily there is a comprehensive manual that clarifies most anything and helps understand what is required. Follow the rules laid out there and there are fewer problems.
Describing objects is difficult, but it does become easier with time. I think many detectorists will like this part of the process very much. Here we can lavish attention upon our finds and have the record of them fully available for others to enjoy and use whichever way they please. The description process is logical and reasoned, you start at the top and work your way down to the bottom describing every feature in a jargon-free and minutely detailed way, and then flip the find over and describe the back in the same way.
All photos are uploaded, then registered. Copyright will in our case be with the individual who makes the record. References are linked to from a bibliography, findspot details entered and the find record saved. You can go back at any time and edit the record, enter more details, whatever. When the record is finalised to your satisfaction the record is sent to your FLO for validation and it is either cleared or returned for update.
I’m starting out on a process that should in time see my entire collection, dating back 14 years, catalogued, recorded in detail for public comsumption, uploaded and available for future research. I think that is an exciting and worthwhile thing to do. It’s not for everyone, like I said it takes great deal of work that many cannot afford, but the records that issue from those who are able to expend the required time and effort, will be exemplary I’m sure, and the experience gained, of real use to others who cannot. I would urge those who feel that they need to extend their detecting practise right now, to have a go.
by Jeff Hatt