
Pembrokeshire treasure hunter unearths Celtic chariot - yitchelle
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-46294000
======
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](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Act_1996)

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

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

~~~
blbviviv
There is a market for these things. Perhaps the treasury acts as escrow
service, with an ever so slight bias!?

------
apo
For a comedic peek into the culture around Britain's detectorists (ties in
nicely with this story), check out the series _Detecorists_ , available on
Netflix:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detectorists](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detectorists)

------
markvdb
> "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!

~~~
isostatic
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?

~~~
zhte415
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 the UK
or this part of the UK, some context: the stones in Stonehenge [0] were
sourced from the Preseli Hills [1] several hundred kilometers away (in the
part of Wales this site is).

Pembrokeshire is beautiful, and somewhat rugged. Rolling hills meet sandy
beaches, equally meeting treacherous cliffs. As a child, I remember frequently
climbing to the peak of an iron age settlement in the morning, sort-of mixing-
in with the sheep left to roam there, then after lunch, a quite long walk down
to the sandy beaches it overlooked. Trying to catch shrimp in the sandy pools
the escaping tide left.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge)
[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preseli_Hills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preseli_Hills)

~~~
celticninja
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llansteffan_Castle)

~~~
SamColes
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.

~~~
arethuza
Indeed there are so many ruined castles, hillforts, vitrified forts and brochs
about that even most locals are fairly oblivious to there existence.

Only a _tiny_ percentage charge and are treated as proper tourist attractions.

------
vectorEQ
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

~~~
pulisse
> 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.

~~~
philipodonnell
You have a very optimistic outlook on the response of the academic community
to findings which refute long-help beliefs.

~~~
pulisse
I'm a former academic, so my "optimistic outlook" is informed by direct
observation of novel findings being career making. What is your pessimism
based on?

