Saxon hoard lands treasure hunters in jail

You are searching for buried Anglo-Saxon treasure when your metal detector beeps. Your heart races. You start to dig. Something glimmers in the soil. A coin. Then another, and another! You’re rich!

Not so fast.

In the UK, the law is clear: if you find treasure, you must give it to the British Museum. A reward is then split between you and the owner of the land.

Is it a fair system? Treasure hunters George Powell and Layton Davies didn’t think so. In June 2015, they dug up a cache of Anglo-Saxon coins and jewellery in a field in England. Worth £3 million, they tried to sell it.

The pair were caught, charged and convicted of theft. On Friday, Powell started a ten-year prison sentence. Davies got eight-and-a-half years.

Most “metal detectorists” are law-abiding enthusiasts. However, so-called “nighthawkers” are on the rise, trespassing on land and swiping hidden troves of Roman, Viking and Anglo-Saxon loot before anyone else gets to them.

The judge said that “the treasure belongs to the nation” when he sentenced the men.

After so many years underground, who really owns buried treasure?

Whoever finds it, surely! It is hypocritical for the British Museum to accuse treasure hunters of stealing, when so many of its own artefacts were taken from other countries by the British Empire without permission. Just think of the most famous example: the Elgin Marbles, which were taken from Athens in the 1800s.

No one owns treasure. It is a part of history, so no one has the right to destroy it either. “Our treasure system,” says Gareth Williams of the British Museum, “is the most generous in the world, in terms of providing rewards for those who abide by the law.” These important items must be protected.