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Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

theguardian.com

31–40 of 86 posts

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#31
post #30

I hope this works out for this guy, because these days I have zero faith that W. European governments are run by sane, commonsense people.

While I sort of agree with you, I also feel like they’re often still better than elsewhere.

The basis is so solid that even the insane people are still closer to reasonsble than elsewhere.

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#32
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at the…

>>These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at t…

The sitcom The Detectorists goes into this hobby in the UK in a lot of detail and has several plots about reporting responsibilities.

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#33

> It is against the law in Ireland to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector unless written permission has been given. Penalties can be up to three months in prison or a fine of up to €63,486 (£53,435). Written permission from who? He was on his own farmland. You have to write a plea to the government to request permission to use a metal detector on your own land? And, if that's the case, are such r…

>You have to write a plea to the government to request permission to use a metal detector on your own land?

no, that's not the law (because you changed what you quoted). the law is "you can't use a metal detector on your own property to search for archaeological objects without permission." You can use it as this farmer said he did as part of working your farm, although if you do find an archeological object I think you are required to leave it in place which he did not do.

There are other restrictions concerning public lands and registered sites of some description.

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#34

> It is against the law in Ireland to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector unless written permission has been given. Penalties can be up to three months in prison or a fine of up to €63,486 (£53,435). Written permission from who? He was on his own farmland. You have to write a plea to the government to request permission to use a metal detector on your own land? And, if that's the case, are such r…

So much will never be found thanks to this law.

So much will never be looted or destroyed because of this law. As an Irish person who has spent some time working as an archaeological grunt (basically, I dig then as soon as I spot something, pass it over to a real archaeologist) - this is a hugely important law. Because, for large developers, the immediate response on finding something is to hide/destroy it so that they don't lose money while an archaeological survey is carried out. And for landowners, I wager a majority are likely to keep it as a curio if it doesn't look valuable.

The fact is that owning a piece of farmland doesn't give you ownership of our country's heritage. Nor should it. You get to raise cows on the land. You don't get to mine it (without permission), you don't get to turn it into a housing development (without permission), and you don't get to turn it into an archaeological dig site (without permission).

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN has a wonderful reputation for always finding an unexpected expert to comment - from nuclear physics to philosophy, pre-history to … porridge :-) But we have buried the lede - Flahavens or not, is it water and salt, or is it milk?

Milk is preferable, with a splash of water. I use oat milk, but water is fine in a pinch. I add such a small amount of salt that it may as well be a placebo. Here are my hard-earned porridge cooking tips, not that you asked: Start soaking the oats the night before in the pot you'll cook them in (in the fridge if you're using dairy). This softens the oats and reduces cooking time by a lot. First thing in the morning,…

> Milk is preferable, with a splash of water. I use oat milk…

Ah so you are using water with a pinch of salt! /s

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#37
post #5

> It is against the law in Ireland to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector unless written permission has been given. Penalties can be up to three months in prison or a fine of up to €63,486 (£53,435). Written permission from who? He was on his own farmland. You have to write a plea to the government to request permission to use a metal detector on your own land? And, if that's the case, are such r…

The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts, and the state has an interest in ensuring that history is recorded and preserved professionally. In effect, archeology is a licensed occupation, but then so is cutting hair in most US states. If the story about metal in machinery is true, then really no offense was committed. Using a metal detector to find what you think is a loose horsesh…

>The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts[...]

At first I bristled a little, but given a pause to think it through, it makes great sense!

Fact is, we as a species did not advance quickly enough to record our origins and a lot of our history. Perhaps this kind of thing always happens. Nobody knows and we have a sample size of one at present.

Our history is a shared thing by our very human condition and the nature of history.

Of course we benefit overall with policy like this even if at times a few of us feel wronged.

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#38
post #37
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts, and the state has an interest in ensuring that history is recorded and preserved professionally. In effect, archeology is a licensed occupation, but then so is cutting hair in most US states. If the story about metal in machinery is true, then really no offense was committed. Using a metal detector to find what you think is a loose horsesh…

>The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts[...] At first I bristled a little, but given a pause to think it through, it makes great sense! Fact is, we as a species did not advance quickly enough to record our origins and a lot of our history. Perhaps this kind of thing always happens. Nobody knows and we have a sample size of one at present. Our history is a shared thing by our ver…

A lot of people throughout history thought the world would end long before this because an issue. They would have laughed at the idea of preserving things for thousands of years.

Maybe in another thousand years post-apocalyptic scavengers will wonder why we tried to preserve history while simultaneously destroying our future.

Re: Irish museum solves mystery of Bronze Age axe heads delivered in porridge box

#40
post #37
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts, and the state has an interest in ensuring that history is recorded and preserved professionally. In effect, archeology is a licensed occupation, but then so is cutting hair in most US states. If the story about metal in machinery is true, then really no offense was committed. Using a metal detector to find what you think is a loose horsesh…

>The rationale is that while you may own the land, you don't own the artifacts[...] At first I bristled a little, but given a pause to think it through, it makes great sense! Fact is, we as a species did not advance quickly enough to record our origins and a lot of our history. Perhaps this kind of thing always happens. Nobody knows and we have a sample size of one at present. Our history is a shared thing by our ver…

"Owning" the land is more of a license from a government. It is a taxi medallion you trade with other people for money.

Lots of stuff you cant do on your own land without permission.

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