by Tess Machling
By Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] ‘My members don’t want to be quasi-archaeologists, they want to go out on a Sunday, dig around, get dirty, find something good’ John Wells, the Association for Metal Detecting Sport in oral evidence to the All Party Parliamentary Archaeology …
Continue reading "‘That belongs in a museum’: The true ‘cost’ of detecting in England and Wales."
By Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Hello again folks. Hope you all had a nice break? A few things have happened since the last blog, so I thought I'd write a quick update. If this is the first you've seen of all this, then do …
Continue reading "The APPAG Detecting Inquiry and an update on donations."
Every year I think about writing this blog, and every year I don't. Usually in the run up it's too busy and then, as the Christmas dinner has been eaten, the last mince pie devoured, and New Year hoves into view, it feels too late to do, another opportunity gone. But today, on this soggy …
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Abstract With the boom in detecting tourism, and with mass detecting rallies being held across the UK, increasingly large numbers of finds are being exported overseas, never to be seen again. This export of our shared national heritage is …
[A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] This is a first for The Big Book of Torcs. Today, I open up BBoT to a guest blog, written by a friend and archaeological colleague. For various reasons, the writer of this blog prefers to remain anonymous, but I can vouch …
Continue reading "“Who Pays for the Hobby?”: Metal Detecting in England and Wales"
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Introduction Following on from my blog last week, I have been trying to find out exactly how much is being paid out each year to individuals and landowners in 'rewards' for their 'Treasure' finds. This information is not straightforward …
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Abstract The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) - the detectorist-facing branch of archaeology - which provides the framework for the application of the 1996 Treasure Act is stretched beyond capacity: the Finds Liaison Officers (FLOs) who run the scheme day-to-day …
Continue reading "The system is broken, so why are we not more concerned?"
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Before I go any further, I want to state that the theft and destruction of heritage across the world is not uncommon and I fully acknowledge the horrific losses currently being experienced in places like Palestine and Sudan. This …
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] Although I am in no way a goldsmith, I do have the kind of family lineage that suggests my dalliances with Iron Age gold might not just be a lucky co-incidence. Having been to the Goldsmiths' Fair in Goldsmiths …
by Tess Machling [A download/print PDF version can be found at the end of the paper] On 3rd July 2025 an important exhibition opened at L'ÉCOLE, School of Jewellery Arts in Paris. The poster from the exhibition. Working with Van Cleef & Arpels, the Centre Archéologique de Montans, the Musée d’Archéologie Nationale at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and …
Continue reading "The Montans torc: working with goldsmiths."
The Big Book of Torcs 