Its easy to just chuck away what you might think of as junk – but many detectorists also keep all their finds – including items they havent got a clue what they are and are unaware of what the object represents. The following article written by “Sukisal” brings home an important message……….
This find has been recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme and was subsequently submitted to Mark Hassell who is a Reader in the Archaeology of the Roman Provinces at University College London. Finds of this nature are submitted by Sally Worrell, Finds Adviser: Prehistoric & Roman Artefacts to Britannia and produced by The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
Linda and I had recently been given permission to search a known Roman Villa site. I will just add that permission had been given to a couple, and they had been very regular visitors to this site for a few weeks previous to our first foray. This site has also been regularly detected in the past when it was in different ownership.
We were going to spend all day on this site, which was large, had quite a steep slope to it, and had two woods either side of it.
We spied many holes from the ‘other ones’. and did not find much really at all. Loads of lead, a lot of it just dropped back onto the field as junk by them.
We went back to my car for a cuppa and a bite to eat, as we were chatting we were comparing finds, a few grots, and with a sigh we both cursed all the lead we were digging up.
I was just showing Linda a folded flat piece, when something stopped me chucking it in our waste bin, I could see an ‘X’ scratched into it. I said to Linda ” is it me or has this got some sort of writing on it?” We both looked closer and could make out a few more scratched marks. I said “ooh, I think I will keep that and have a closer look at home”.
Well I later showed it to someone else who said that it could be important, and could have more writing inside the fold. He took it away and very carefully opened it for me. He rung me up later very excited and said there indeed was more writing and clearer as it had been protected from the elements on the inside.
I handed it over to my Finds Liaison Officer and the rest is in the Portable Antiquities database report on the link here. (This link tells you what the object is – and its rarity and importance)
I will just add again, please look at your lead very carefully, I could so easily have chucked this tatty bit of important history. I do think that the detectorists on there had, in all probability chucked this piece back onto the field, if not I know they would have done so if they had dug it up.
I think by the very nature of what these are made of, that this is the reason they are so rare, I bet you many have been discarded as rubbish.
