Recording Finds
Recording Finds
Recording and Prioritizing Finds
EDMDC members can bring their personal finds to monthly meetings for recording. Some meetings will be attended by local Find Liaison Officers (FLOs) who also can help identify finds worth recording.
Club digs always have a a member photographer in attendance to record interesting finds.
Some other information re recording and Portable Antiquity Scheme priorities is given below.
Photographic Images:
- should be produced by digital photography
- must be sharp and of a sufficiently high resolution to permit identification.
- obvious corrosion and soil should be removed wherever possible
- coins, buttons and other flat objects should not be photographed obliquely to preserve dimensions
- include a scale so size can be assessed with a plain, neutral background
- record the actual measured dimensions in centimetres and millimetres
- format should be jpeg (jpg) and 24 bit colour whenever possible.
Portable Antiquities Scheme Guidelines - Recording Priorities
- Priority will be given to finds with good findspots; at least a 6-figure National Grid Reference, GPS location is even better. Note that many mobile phones have Apps that can record GPS location.
- Find Liaison Officers (FLOs) will selectively record post-medieval objects and coins (i.e. those dating to after 1540). Exceptions can be made for items of social or historical interest.
- Priority will be given to Treasure finds in view of the time constraints stipulated by the Act.
- Priority will be given to new assemblages, such as those which indicate previously unknown sites, and finds which advance knowledge of known 'sites' or landscapes.
- Priority will be given to finds that hold greater potential for advancing knowledge of material culture (e.g. typology, dating, distribution etc.).
Priority Checklist (the more ticks an object has the more likely its importance to FLOs)
- Does this find have at least a 6-figure NGR?
- Is it of national, regional or local importance?
- Does it help identify an area of archaeological potential?
- Does it shed new light on a previously known site?
- Is it an object type that is being researched, or has research potential?
- Is it potential Treasure?
- Is it likely to advance knowledge of material culture (such as typology)?
