Patrimoine archéologique pillé : une saisie douanière record

 Shocking video on You Tube: 

Posted on You Tube by  DOUANE FRANÇAISE Dec 16, 2020 13,421 views

Once again, an artefact hunter attempts to get round the laws by making up a false provenance. 

Un ensemble d’objets archéologiques d’une valeur encore inestimable saisi grâce à une coopération exemplaire entre les autorités belges, le ministère de la culture et la Douane. Une enquête menée en coopération avec les autorités belges, les services déconcentrés du ministère de la culture et la douane, a permis la saisie de 27 400 objets classés biens culturels. Cette saisie de pièces archéologiques pillées est à ce jour une des plus importantes jamais réalisée en France. En septembre 2019, un résident français en Belgique déclare la découverte fortuite sur son terrain d’un trésor monétaire composé de 14.154 pièces de l’époque romaine. L’examen de ces pièces conduit les autorités belges à remettre en cause la véracité de ce récit et à partager leurs soupçons avec la direction régionale des affaires culturelles (DRAC) de la Région Grand Est. Celle-ci se tourne alors vers la direction nationale du renseignement et des enquêtes douanières (DNRED), en charge de la lutte contre les trafics de biens culturels.

C’est lors d’une visite domiciliaire que les enquêteurs des douanes, accompagnés d’archéologues de la DRAC Grand-Est découvrent un ensemble de pièces archéologiques d’une qualité exceptionnelle. Parmi les objets saisis, figurent des bracelets et torques (colliers) datant de l’âge du Bronze et de l’âge du Fer, un dodécaèdre romain dont il n’existe qu’une centaine d’exemplaires connus et dont l’utilisation demeure une énigme archéologique, mais également des fibules romaines, des boucles de ceintures mérovingiennes, médiévales et de la Renaissance, des éléments de statues, des monnaies romaines et gauloises pillées dans des ateliers de fabrication référencés comme sites archéologiques. Au total, 13 246 objets sont saisis.

Les enquêteurs obtiennent à cette occasion confirmation que le trésor monétaire à l’origine de leurs soupçons est bien issu de divers pillages en France. [...].

More Details on "Patrice T"

The unnamed metal detector user facing a court case on illegal artefact hunting comes from the east of France and had "deep archaeological knowledge" (AFP 'Priceless' haul of over 27,000 artefacts seized in France', 16/12/2020). - 11:32

French authorities have seized a "priceless" haul of over 27,000 archaeological artefacts ranging from Bronze Age bracelets to Roman coins that had been secretly amassed by a single person in the east of the country, customs said Wednesday. The seizure of the 27,400 objects was the result of a year-long investigation conducted by French customs, Belgian authorities and the French culture ministry. The hoarder, who has not been named and now faces a criminal probe, had built up the collection for personal and trading purposes, the French customs service said. He had amassed the collection himself using metal detectors as well as what appears to be a deep archaeological knowledge. The man had first aroused suspicion in 2019 when he told authorities he had found almost 15,000 Roman coins by chance on land he had acquired in Belgium. The French customs service then confirmed that this haul had actually been built up through "the looting of various sites in France", it said. The case has now been handed to the judiciary, with the man risking a colossal fine and possibly jail time.

Where is meant? Champagne-Ardenne, Franche-Compte, Alsace, or Lorraine maybe? What comprises "deep archaeological knowledge" in the contexct of finding things? When they allege that Mr T had "built up the collection for personal and trading purposes", did the French customs service actually catch him selling stuff, or is that just a surmise based on a stereotype?

UPDATE 18th Dec 2020
Despite some innaccuracies, Hannah Thompson ('French customs seizes 27,000 looted archaeological artefacts', the Connection 17 December 2020) seems to have more details:

French customs confirmed on Wednesday December 16 that it had seized more than 27,000 pieces of objects classified as “cultural goods”, hidden at the property of a collector from Lorraine. The pieces are “priceless” and of “exceptional quality”, the ministry for culture said. They include bracelets and torches from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age; a rare Gallo-Roman mosaic; thousands of coins from the Roman Gaul era; and belt buckles from the Merovingian era, the medieval age, and the Renaissance. All of the pieces appear to have been illegally dug up from sites across the east of France. The case dates back to October 18, 2019. A Frenchman who had recently bought a piece of land in Belgium told authorities that he had found a treasure trove of Gallo-Roman coins when digging on his new land. [...] The discovery made the authorities suspicious [...] It is thought he was trying to sell many of the objects in Belgium.

 

French detectorist accused of looting on vast scale after haul discovered at home

 

                       Some of the thousands of objects found                        
when French officials raided Patrice T’s
 house. Photograph: Douane Française

A treasure hunter who claimed to have dug up 14,154 Roman coins in a Belgian field has been accused of being one of the greatest archaeological looters in European history (Daniel Boffey, 'French detectorist accused of looting on vast scale after haul discovered at home', Guardian Wed 16 Dec 2020)

The Frenchman, identified only as Patrice T, told Belgian officials that he found the relics by chance with a metal detector at two sites close to Gingelom, a Flemish town 40 miles east of Brussels, in October last year. In France, metal detectors are only allowed to be used for scientific research, but in Dutch-speaking Flanders they can be used for personal searches. The coins were legally declared as the finder’s property. [...] French officials believe the man, who is awaiting trial, had been exploiting the difference between French law and Flemish regulations to amass his cache of looted goods [...] The offender is liable to imprisonment and hundreds of thousands of euros in customs fines. This is a clear message to those who, for the benefit and selfish pleasure of a few, rob us of our common heritage and erase entire swaths of our history.”

That was from Bruno Le Maire, France’s economy minister, none of that mealy mouthed Brit-nonsense that "the vast majority of these history hoikers are really responsibly hoiking, not like the VERY SMALL MINORITY OF ones that operate illegally" that we meet in every single British news report that even whispers the words "metal detector". In France they see history hoiking for what it is: a group of oiks that "for their own benefit and selfish pleasure, rob us of our common heritage and erase entire swaths of our history”.

One of the Belgian officials first at the scene in Gingelom said the man’s account had not rung true from the start.  Marleen Martens told the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper: “The man said he bought it because he liked to come for a walk in the area and set up a caravan there. He had made the find when he wanted to clean up the ground with a metal detector. I thought he had found some coins, but he took two full buckets from the trunk of his car. “During the site survey we concluded that it was impossible for the coins to come from this site. They were located in an earth layer that was formed after the middle ages. A few coins could exceptionally still toss up. But 14,000?”

Context, you see? 

Some of the hoard found by officials. Photograph: Douane Française

hat tip Dave Coward

Artefact collecting: creating or destroying the archaeological record?

Paul M. Barford2020, 'Artefact collecting: creating or destroying the archaeological record?' Barford, P. M. (2020). Artefact collecting: creating or destroying the archaeological record?. Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia, 25, 39–91. https://doi.org/10.14746/fpp.2020.25.02

Abstrakt
This paper examines some of the arguments used by archaeologists in favour of collaborating useful for archaeological research and is a form of public engagement with archaeology. It takes as a case study records of 48 600 medieval artefacts removed from archaeological contexts by artefact hunters and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales. The past and potential uses of these records as an archaeological source are objectively reviewed, together with an assessment of the degree to which they provide mitigation of the damage caused to the otherwise unthreatened archaeological record. It is concluded that, although information can be obtained by studying records of findspots of addressed artefacts such as coins, in general the claims made in support of professional archaeological collaboration with this kind of activity prove to be false.

Full article here...

British Metal Detecting: PAS Statistics For 2020. Cause for Concern?

"Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, said [...] the PAS system was “admired and emulated” in other countries" says Rachel Hall. Except in the ones where they laugh at it and deplore hobbyist looters trashing the archaeological record. The British media once again presenting the usual blinkered view of the effects of collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record on the occasion of the issue of yet another Treasure Report. Some fluff statistics are produced about PAS. Ignoring the public role of the PAS we are told that:

[A]mateur treasure hunting [...] contributed to the 50,000 archaeologically significant finds that were recorded by hobbyists in 2020 and which shed further light on Britain’s history, according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) annual report published by the British Museum. Among the finds was the millionth archaeological find made by the British public, a copper alloy medieval harness pendant found in Lincolnshire. The finds were recorded by 2,846 individuals and more than 1,000 were treasure discoveries. The overall number was lower than previous years as metal detectorists, who made 91% of the discoveries, were less active due to lockdowns, the report stated. The arts minister, Stephen Parkinson, launched the treasure annual report for 2019 and the PAS report for 2020 at the British Museum on Tuesday.

Let's just get a bit of accuracy here. The actual report is not online yet. According to the PAS database, the actual total number of objects for 2020 is 49490 but the number of individual records is 32293 (which means that 17197 of those finds are duplicate artefacts from the same reported find)! 

There is some fudgy phrasing in the next bit ("The finds were recorded [sic] by 2,846 individuals [...] metal detectorists, who made 91% of the discoveries"). Note, we are not told how many of England and Wales' estimated 27000 metal detecting artefact hunters reported finds, only that 91% of the [either] records, or individual finds *within* those records were reported by metal detectorists. In fact what is probably meant is that 91% of the finders were detectorists, which means that 2590 of them came forward and responsibly reported their finds. 

That in turn means that less than 10% of the region's metal detectorists are in fact abiding by the Code of best Practice and may be termed "responsible". In other words, over 90% of the metal detectorists are not reporting their finds to the PAS, just waking off with them and the knowledge they contain. Ninety percent of these looters do not contribute anything at all to "shedding further light on Britain's history", though they'll mostly all come forward if there is a Treasure reward in the offing ("not in it fer th' munny" of course).

   The Treasure Blip (needs redrawing,
I'll do it when official figures
 for 2020 are available)    

And here we come to an issue. Who remembers the figure (right) about the "Treasure Blip" I identified a while ago? I am sure you all do, as it raises a very disquieting fact, it seems to be material evidence that the depletion of the metal-detector-accessible archaeological record of England and Wales, at least, has reached a crisis point. I am sure I am not the only person in the world who is given sleepless nights by the possible implications of the figures. Let's put what this article tells us about more people "taking up amateur treasure hunting" and juxtapose it with the "more than 1000" Treasure finds. Even if "more than" means "100 more than 1000", there is still a shortfall. 

The question of the iconic "millionth record" after 25+ years expensive outreach to 27000 artefact hunters with their millions of finds is discussed elsewhere here.

But hey, who cares about anything like that? "Nothing to see here, move along please", yes? Just get some figures, any old figures as long as they are big, down on a piece of paper and hand them to an uninquisitive journalist or two and Bob's yer Uncle. PAS have been doing it for years. 

Reference: 

Rachel Hall, 'Medieval pendant is millionth archaeological find by British public', Guardian 14th December 2021.

Hat tip: Dave Coward