Treasure Troves: What Happens to Finds?

Page 5 of 9

• 1. Safeguarding finds
• 2. Ethics
• 3. Treasure Act
• 4. Defining treasure
• 5. Exceptions
• 6. Portable Antiquities Scheme
• 7. Planning decisions
• 8. Site surveys
• 9. National organisations
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Exceptions

Human remains, which are specifically excluded from the terms of the Treasure Act, cannot in fact be ‘owned’, as the law considers that 'there is no property in a corpse'. In addition, human remains can only legally be disturbed or removed from where they are found under a licence issued by the Secretary of State.

These regulations were initially drawn up to govern the exhumation of human remains from graveyards but is applied to human remains of any date. Part of the licence governs the final location of the remains. These should either be reburied if this is considered to be appropriate, or placed in a museum if the remains are considered important enough to warrant future study.

'Archaeologists working on site have no claim to any finds that they make.'

So, with the exception of human remains and those objects that fall under the terms of the Treasure Act of 1997, all other objects of any date are the property of the owner of the land on which they lie.

In the case of archaeological excavations, before work starts on site, an agreement is ideally drawn up governing the ownership and final deposition of any finds. This will usually involve the museum whose collecting policy covers the area in which the site lies. Archaeologists working on site have no claim to any finds that they make.

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Published: 2005-01-24