New Portable Antiquities Scheme Website

The Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of objects are discovered, many of these by metal-detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work. Such discoveries offer an important source for understanding our past.

This website provides background information on the Portable Antiquities Scheme, news articles, events listings and access to our database of objects and images.
The Treasure Act

All finders of gold and silver objects, and groups of coins from the same findspot, which are over 300 years old, have a legal obligation to report such items under the Treasure Act 1996. Now prehistoric base-metal assemblages found after 1st January 2003 also qualify as Treasure. This website provides further information for finders of potential Treasure.

• All images
• All artefacts & coins
• Search database
  • Advanced search
  • Iron Age numismatic search
  • Roman numismatic search
  • Early medieval numismatic search
  • Byzantine numismatic search
  • Medieval numismatic search
  • Post medieval numismatic search
  • Public saved searches
• Reference works cited
• Numismatics
  • Iron Age
  • Roman
  • Greek & Roman Provincial
  • Byzantine
  • Early Medieval
  • Medieval
  • Post Medieval
• Hoards
• Controlled vocabulary
  • Object terms
  • Periods
  • Denominations
  • Mints
  • Rulers
  • Ascribed cultures
  • Workflow stages
  • Preservation states
  • Discovery methods
  • Finds of note reasons
  • Materials
  • Decorative styles
  • Decorative methods
  • Methods of manufacture
  • Landuses
  • Surface treatments
  • Primary activities
• Rallies
• Commentary
• Statistics