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Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

bbc.com

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Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#11

Post by codeulike »

markvdb wrote: post #2

> "He emailed a picture to an expert contact who said it was part of a Celtic horse harness and dating from around 600 BC. Professionals should have taken over here. > Mr Smith, from Milford Haven, went straight back the following day. He dug down to"[...] The context layers in a dig betray is often very important. Even if he didn't destroy valuable objects, he most probably destroyed a lot of valuable information!

He didn't dig very far - only as far as he needed to show what it was - and left most of it for the archaeologists to dig, if you read the article

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#12

Post by agsdfgsd »

pulisse wrote: post #9
vectorEQ wrote: post #7

very cool find. archeologists also destroy a lot of evidence, and if they find anything that doesn't fit rpevious findings often either ignore it or are highly skeptical, which is why i assume he hd some trouble to convince this was an actual find, and had to ... dig a little deeper :D

> if they find anything that doesn't fit rpevious findings often either ignore it or are highly skeptical\ If they find something that doesn't fit previous findings, they publish on it and get tenure.

That may happen sometimes, but there's also examples of findings that contradict popular hypotheses and the person who found it gets their career destroyed and labelled as a "crank" and a "fraud" rather than getting tenure.

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#13

Post by chrisseaton »

pulisse wrote: post #9
vectorEQ wrote: post #7

very cool find. archeologists also destroy a lot of evidence, and if they find anything that doesn't fit rpevious findings often either ignore it or are highly skeptical, which is why i assume he hd some trouble to convince this was an actual find, and had to ... dig a little deeper :D

> if they find anything that doesn't fit rpevious findings often either ignore it or are highly skeptical\ If they find something that doesn't fit previous findings, they publish on it and get tenure.

Tenure is not a thing in the UK.

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#14

Post by doitLP »

It seems like the UK government’s Treasure Act really incentivizes the right kind behavior in these situations. He found it, contacted the right people and once it gets evaluated he and the landowner are going to get a big payday. Better than making off with valuable artifacts and destroying the site.

> The Treasure Act allows for a reward up to the market value of the treasure to be shared among the finder and the tenants and/or owner of the land on which the treasure was found. The amount of the reward and how it is divided among the claimants is determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Act_1996

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#15

Post by celticninja »

zhte415 wrote: post #8
isostatic wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure But when faced with "But he had to convince the experts. One of the first he spoke to told him: "No, you're wrong. One's never been found in this part of the country."" what can you do?

He certainly didn't give up. He seems tenacious. And that seems the right thing to have been done. > "I knew the importance of them straight away," said Mr Smith who has been prospecting for around 30 years. > "It was just instinct. I'd read all about chariot burials and just wished it could have been me, so finding this has been a privilege." The area has a long Celtic history. For readers unfamiliar perhaps with th…

I have similar memories. I remember as kids we used to play in an old castle by the beach, its just open and anyone can go and wander around it. I travel around the UK with my kids and these days everything wants to charge an entry fee, even other castles in similar states of decay/disrepair.

Easily my favourite castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llansteffan_Castle

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#16

Post by yitchelle »

doitLP wrote: post #14

It seems like the UK government’s Treasure Act really incentivizes the right kind behavior in these situations. He found it, contacted the right people and once it gets evaluated he and the landowner are going to get a big payday. Better than making off with valuable artifacts and destroying the site. > The Treasure Act allows for a reward up to the market value of the treasure to be shared among the finder and the t…

How is the market value determined, especially for items that have never been sold on the market before?

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#17

Post by gambiting »

chrisseaton wrote: post #13
pulisse wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if they find anything that doesn't fit rpevious findings often either ignore it or are highly skeptical\ If they find something that doesn't fit previous findings, they publish on it and get tenure.

Tenure is not a thing in the UK.

It might not be called tenure, but "professor for life" absolutely is a thing at British universities.

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#18

Post by SamColes »

celticninja wrote: post #15
zhte415 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He certainly didn't give up. He seems tenacious. And that seems the right thing to have been done. > "I knew the importance of them straight away," said Mr Smith who has been prospecting for around 30 years. > "It was just instinct. I'd read all about chariot burials and just wished it could have been me, so finding this has been a privilege." The area has a long Celtic history. For readers unfamiliar perhaps with th…

I have similar memories. I remember as kids we used to play in an old castle by the beach, its just open and anyone can go and wander around it. I travel around the UK with my kids and these days everything wants to charge an entry fee, even other castles in similar states of decay/disrepair. Easily my favourite castle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llansteffan_Castle

There are free to access castle ruins and buildings of a similar age and much older all over the UK, they're hardly in short supply. Maybe you didn't intend it but this comes across as overly pessimistic. It's hardly as if every bit of history in the country has had a fence put round it to charge an entry fee.

Not trying to say what you're describing doesn't exist, but the only place I can think of that I've been to that charges to see some 3ft high bits of wall would be Old Sarum, but that also has great views.

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#19

Post by hycaria »

yitchelle wrote: post #16
doitLP wrote: post #14

It seems like the UK government’s Treasure Act really incentivizes the right kind behavior in these situations. He found it, contacted the right people and once it gets evaluated he and the landowner are going to get a big payday. Better than making off with valuable artifacts and destroying the site. > The Treasure Act allows for a reward up to the market value of the treasure to be shared among the finder and the t…

How is the market value determined, especially for items that have never been sold on the market before?

Rarity, significance, state of conservation... I'm not surprised a market value can be assessed by people working in the field.

Re: Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot

#20

Post by arethuza »

gambiting wrote: post #17
chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tenure is not a thing in the UK.

It might not be called tenure, but "professor for life" absolutely is a thing at British universities.

"Despite this recent erosion of tenure in the UK, it is still practiced in most universities. Permanent contracts use the word "tenure" for lecturers who are "reappointed to the retiring age". This is equivalent to a US tenure decision"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecturer

Certainly the impression I got when I worked as a contract researcher for 6 years - if you weren't on an explicitly temporary contract (which I was) then you were probably there for life if you wanted.

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