The Curse of the Buried Treasure (newyorker.com) 85
Two metal-detector enthusiasts discovered a Viking hoard. It was worth a fortune -- but it became a nightmare. From a report:
Leominster, in the West Midlands area of England, is an ancient market town where the past and the present are jumbled together like coins in a change purse. Shops housed in half-timbered sixteenth-century Tudor buildings face the main square, offering cream teas and antiques. The town's most lurid attraction is a well-preserved ducking stool, a mode of punishment in which an offender was strapped to a seat and dunked into a pond or a river while neighbors jeered; the device, last employed in 1809, is now on incongruous display inside the Priory Church, which dates to the thirteenth century. Christianity has even older roots in Leominster: a monastery was established around 660 by a recent convert, the Saxon leader Merewalh, who is thought to have been a son of Penda, the King of Mercia. For much of the early Middle Ages, Mercia was the most powerful of the four main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the others being Wessex, East Anglia, and Northumberland. In the tenth century, these realms were unified to become the Kingdom of England. Although the region surrounding Leominster (pronounced "Lemster") is no longer officially known as Mercia, this legacy is preserved in the name of the local constabulary: the West Mercia Police.
On June 2, 2015, two metal-detector hobbyists aware of the area's heritage, George Powell and Layton Davies, drove ninety minutes north of their homes, in South Wales, to the hamlet of Eye, about four miles outside Leominster. The farmland there is picturesque: narrow, hedgerow-lined lanes wend among pastures dotted with spreading trees and undulating crop fields. Anyone fascinated by the layered accretions of British history -- or eager to learn what might be buried within those layers -- would find it an attractive spot. English place-names, most of which date back to Anglo-Saxon times, are often repositories of meaning: the name Eye, for example, derives from Old English, and translates as "dry ground in a marsh." Just outside the hamlet was a rise in the landscape, identified on maps by the tantalizing appellation of King's Hall Hill. Powell, a warehouse worker in his early thirties, and Davies, a school custodian a dozen years older, were experienced "detectorists." There are approximately twenty thousand such enthusiasts in England and Wales, and usually they find only mundane detritus: a corroded button that popped off a jacket in the eighteen-hundreds, a bolt that fell off a tractor a dozen years ago. But some detectorists make discoveries that are immensely valuable, both to collectors of antiquities and to historians, for whom a single buried coin can help illuminate the past. Scanning the environs of King's Hall Hill, the men suddenly picked up a signal on their devices. They dug into the red-brown soil, and three feet down they started to uncover a thrilling cache of objects: a gold arm bangle in the shape of a snake consuming its own tail; a pendant made from a crystal sphere banded by delicately wrought gold; a gold ring patterned with octagonal facets; a silver ingot measuring close to three inches in length; and, stuck together in a solid clod of earth, what appeared to be hundreds of fragile silver coins.
On June 2, 2015, two metal-detector hobbyists aware of the area's heritage, George Powell and Layton Davies, drove ninety minutes north of their homes, in South Wales, to the hamlet of Eye, about four miles outside Leominster. The farmland there is picturesque: narrow, hedgerow-lined lanes wend among pastures dotted with spreading trees and undulating crop fields. Anyone fascinated by the layered accretions of British history -- or eager to learn what might be buried within those layers -- would find it an attractive spot. English place-names, most of which date back to Anglo-Saxon times, are often repositories of meaning: the name Eye, for example, derives from Old English, and translates as "dry ground in a marsh." Just outside the hamlet was a rise in the landscape, identified on maps by the tantalizing appellation of King's Hall Hill. Powell, a warehouse worker in his early thirties, and Davies, a school custodian a dozen years older, were experienced "detectorists." There are approximately twenty thousand such enthusiasts in England and Wales, and usually they find only mundane detritus: a corroded button that popped off a jacket in the eighteen-hundreds, a bolt that fell off a tractor a dozen years ago. But some detectorists make discoveries that are immensely valuable, both to collectors of antiquities and to historians, for whom a single buried coin can help illuminate the past. Scanning the environs of King's Hall Hill, the men suddenly picked up a signal on their devices. They dug into the red-brown soil, and three feet down they started to uncover a thrilling cache of objects: a gold arm bangle in the shape of a snake consuming its own tail; a pendant made from a crystal sphere banded by delicately wrought gold; a gold ring patterned with octagonal facets; a silver ingot measuring close to three inches in length; and, stuck together in a solid clod of earth, what appeared to be hundreds of fragile silver coins.
Saw this on Pocket (Score:1)
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Huh, you haven't disabled it yet?
Terrible summary (Score:5, Informative)
TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:5, Informative)
Two long paragraphs describing the lovely English country setting, and barely a clue about what this "curse" could be.
TFA is very wordy but does give that info.
This law was passed after the explosion of metal-detector enthusiasts ended up with debacles of historical hordes being scattered on the collector market and the archaeological information lost.
Finders are supposed to report the treasure. The treasure goes to "the Crown" [the government's institutions] and typically ends up in a museum. It's market value is issued as a reward - half to the finders, half to the landowner. Hunters should have a deal (preferably in writing) with the landowner, to head off charges of trespass and disputes if anything of value is found. (Before the law the treasure just went to the Crown, so the incentive was to quietly sell it.)
These guys didn't get proper permission for where they started searching (permission from tenant but not landowner). Then they strayed onto adjacent land (Lord Cawley's!), where they found the horde.
Rather than looking up Lord Crawley, apologizing for straying, and cutting a deal to turn it in properly and split the value, they took some of the horde including some rare coins, posted pix of three of them online (only two others of the type were known to exist), and got caught.
They now fit both halves of that other fabled curse: They were not only "living in interesting times" but had "come to the attention of people in high places". (And that's where I stopped reading. You can continue if you want to find out what trouble they're in, so far.)
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"TFA is very wordy but does give that info."
You actually RTFA? With a 5 figure uid?
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The UID has obviously nothing to do with that.
I would have read it to, but the "New York Times" thinks I have an add blocker and does not let read me it.
Re:TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:5, Insightful)
I would have read it to, but the "New York Times" thinks I have an add blocker and does not let read me it.
Same thing happened to me. Funny that they seem to equate preventing third-party tracking with "ad blocking." I'm more than happy for them to display ads that are the equivalent of print ads on the pages of a magazine. Tracking what I read all over the Internet is just plain rude.
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"I would have read it to, but the "New York Times" thinks I have an add blocker and does not let read me it."
That's just the JavaScript, just click Reader-Mode and refresh the screen after, then you're good to go.
Paywalls make it harder to RTFA (Score:2)
You actually RTFA? With a 5 figure uid?
I have tried to read the featured article so as not to come off as uninformed when writing comments. But lately it's been harder to read the featured article now that the market for web advertising space has been evaporating and publishers have put in site-specific paywalls to make up for it.
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Undergrounded Lightning is a newbie.
#GetOffMyLawn
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Undergrounded Lightning is a newbie.
#GetOffMyLawn
Oh to be so young.
#ReallyGetOffMyLawn
Re:TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:4, Insightful)
(And that's where I stopped reading. You can continue if you want to find out what trouble they're in, so far.)
And then they tried to sell them and claim they were found separately and/or otherwise violate the law. And the experts and dealers they contacted to find out the value or market the items were aboveground, associated with museums, white market, etc. So they had to inform the authorities. You see where this is going.
As I read the description of the law, giving the discoverers and landowner the estimated market value of the find is probably a good deal. The more valuable pieces are mostly valuable because they're rare, so dumping more on the market would depress the price, while stuffing them in a museum and paying the pre-discovery market price for such items in the discoverd items' condition would be a great deal. Also TFA claims the committee that does the evaluation tends to pay generously to encourage turn-ins. So going to the black market seems like a really bad decision.
Re:TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:4, Insightful)
I read that story quite a time ago in a German newspaper.
The "tragedy of the criminals" is: they would be well set now if they simply had followed the law.
AFAIK, they got nothing but punishment from this discovery, which they IMHO deserve.
Re:TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:5, Informative)
Yep. There are very strict laws regarding this sort of thing and every "detectorist" should know them.
nb. The law doesn't take the money value of the find away from you, it preserves the historical context and the details of the find.
You're supposed to stop digging as soon as you realize it's more than just a button or a single coin and contact the authorities. They'll send in some real archeologists to dig it out and preserve it. You'll get paid the value of the find later... (instead of ending up in serious trouble).
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The law doesn't take the money value of the find away from you
I think the law does allow that, but typically the value of the find will go to the land owner.
Don't go detecting without permission of the land owner and get in writing the split of the value of any finds.
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THANK YOU (Score:5, Insightful)
Your summary had far fewer words than the Slashdot summary, and gave all the interesting info. The slasdot summary fails by any reasonable definition of "summary."
Thank you, Ungrounded Lightening, for being respectful of our time, and for not just plagiarizing the article and calling that a "summary."
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they took some of the horde
Yeugh. You mean 'hoard'. Horde is the group of Vikings that buried the treasure.
Repeat after me: How many hoards could the Viking hordes hoard if the Vikings could hoard hordes?
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And you probably know that for a non native english speaker (aka British english), "horde" and "hoard" are pronounced the same?
Re:TFA is wordy but has the rest. (Score:5, Funny)
Simpler times.
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Hoard rhymes with board, horde has a shorter 'o' sound.
And even if they sounded identical, homophones aren't homonyms.
signed, a non-native English speaker.
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Yes, that's not called a homonym.
You can also include "whored" in that group.
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"not". sigh. I lose my internets today.
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Two long paragraphs describing the lovely English country setting, and barely a clue about what this "curse" could be.
TFA is very wordy but does give that info.
This law was passed after the explosion of metal-detector enthusiasts ended up with debacles of historical hordes being scattered on the collector market and the archaeological information lost.
Finders are supposed to report the treasure. The treasure goes to "the Crown" [the government's institutions] and typically ends up in a museum. It's market value is issued as a reward - half to the finders, half to the landowner. Hunters should have a deal (preferably in writing) with the landowner, to head off charges of trespass and disputes if anything of value is found. (Before the law the treasure just went to the Crown, so the incentive was to quietly sell it.)
These guys didn't get proper permission for where they started searching (permission from tenant but not landowner). Then they strayed onto adjacent land (Lord Cawley's!), where they found the horde.
Rather than looking up Lord Crawley, apologizing for straying, and cutting a deal to turn it in properly and split the value, they took some of the horde including some rare coins, posted pix of three of them online (only two others of the type were known to exist), and got caught.
They now fit both halves of that other fabled curse: They were not only "living in interesting times" but had "come to the attention of people in high places". (And that's where I stopped reading. You can continue if you want to find out what trouble they're in, so far.)
They all went to prison, TFA says if they had just been honest they would have received at the very least a third share each. Apparently they have been roundly mocked. I'm not certain this is a curse except as far as they were just really dumb.
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It was on Lord Cawley's land, is that close enough? But I guess British English would have to be more r-less than it already is, for those to be homophones.
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It's market value is issued as a reward - half to the finders, half to the landowner.
Better than outright seizure with no compensation at all. Here's to some progress.
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"Two long paragraphs describing the lovely English country setting, and barely a clue about what this "curse" could be."
Exactly my thought! As if we could just RTFA! Must be a newbie posting this.
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Naw, same as all the other news, some cluesticks who hate rules didn't follow any, didn't take responsibility, and received negative consequences anyways.
From the perspective of the land owner whose hoard they tried to steal it was a blessing that they caught them so early in the process, not any sort of curse. And that's the person whose rightful prerogatives were at issue.
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You read the summary ? I usually assume the "editors" have picked the LCD, most annoying story about thevent and just use the headline for a google search to find an article for grownups.
Re:Terrible summary (Score:5, Funny)
to the hamlet of Eye
They found buried treasure in an area named "Eye". As you know, over the course of history, details are often forgotten but small linguistic artifacts remain. Like "dial the phone" despite phones no longer having "dials".
Anyway it seems this little hamlet got its name from the fact that there used to be a large tower in the vicinity, and a giant eye peered out of its topmost windows. Crazy, I know, but history often is. Turns out it is likely that this eye actually crafted the treasure these guys found, treasure that was thought to have been lost after it fell into a crack filled with molten rock.
Like previous adventurers before them who came into contact with the treasure these latest guys were overcome by greed and lust for it. It really has used them for its nefarious purpose and until it can be found and properly dealt with will no doubt ensnare many others.
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These days? A "shit-hole" banana republic where the government is completely corrupt.
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Fair enough - though we have been trying to put up an "under new management!" sign, but some blocky bloke in a bad hair-piece keeps ripping it down.
We'll get it sorted eventually.
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Yeah, fingers crossed that it all works out.
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You need to turn this into a novel... probably enough material for several series of books.
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Similar to so-called movies "synopsis" these days. You have to read two paragraphs about the authors, directors and actors, along with their previous works, before they barely mention what the movie is about.
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It's wrong too, there was no ancient kingdom of Northumberland, that is the modern county. Back in the day it was the Kingdom of Northumbria.
Wouldn't one write why it became a nightmare? (Score:3)
Or is it all about posting article links now with some teaser text that doesn't include the information we crave?
Re: Wouldn't one write why it became a nightmare? (Score:4)
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Consider who posted the link and their typical passive-aggressive Dicedot style.
Not a word in the TFS about the curse (Score:3)
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Everything else is the consequences of finding valuables while trespassing on private property, and not reporting the find as required by English law.
Huh? (Score:2)
With summary writing akin to a Harlequin romance novel with Fabio on the cover, yet fails to explain how/where the curse comes into play?
Re: Huh? (Score:2)
Here's an interesting headline. (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's a two paragraph summary with nothing to do with it.
There Slashdot can you pay me Msmash's wage?
Why are you telling us all this? (Score:2)
All I could think of, what this: https://knowyourmeme.com/photo... [knowyourmeme.com]
TL;DR (Score:3)
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The article is about how the guys who found the treasure didn't have an agreement with the land owner and had to deal with the authorities because of the Treasure Act.
They didn't have to deal with the authorities; the authorities had to hunt their asses down.
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Wait for it
wait for it
deal with the authorities.
Re:TL;DR (Score:5, Informative)
The article is about how the guys who found the treasure didn't have an agreement with the land owner and had to deal with the authorities because of the Treasure Act. No curse, just normal legalities.
So basically they were trespassing, breaking the law by not reporting the find, and the landowner (whose permission they did not have to be on the land) was by law entitled to 50% of the value of the find. Instead of recognition and hundreds of thousands of dollars in rewards (plus any residuals like TV appearances, book deals, etc), they all got years in jail.
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So basically they were trespassing
In England, it is legal to cross land if you cause no damage. The digging was illegal. Being there was not.
Even in America, you are usually not trespassing unless you were warned not to enter or told to leave. But the specifics vary by state.
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No, same in both places; you're trespassing if you're doing things you should know you're not allowed to do. So for example in the US where you're not allowed to cross the land without permission, remaining after being told proves you knew you didn't have permission. But digging unlawfully is the same; the act of digging is the trespass. Anything illegal you do while on somebody's private property, without permission, is trespassing. And if you lied to get permission, it is still trespassing.
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But digging unlawfully is the same; the act of digging is the trespass.
Words do have a meaning.
Illegal digging is: illegal digging - or stealing. Opps. That was so easy.
And that means: it is not trespassing.
Anything illegal you do while on somebody's private property, without permission, is trespassing. ... or would murder, rape, stealing be just trespassing?
Nope
In many countries, trespassing only counts for fenced properties anyway. In most of europe in a forrest I can go where ever I want. And in northern
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But digging unlawfully is the same; the act of digging is the trespass.
Words do have a meaning.
Illegal digging is: illegal digging - or stealing. Opps. That was so easy.
And that means: it is not trespassing.
You're getting hung up on definition 1 of trespass, which is simply going on to property without permission. There is also definition 2, which is committing an offense against someone or their property, especially an offense that causes loss or harm. So, yeah, illegal digging does commit an offense against property that causes loss.
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in the US where you're not allowed to cross the land without permission ...
Not true in most states.
In most of America, it is not illegal to cross land unless warning signs are posted or you are told to leave.
Walking across an unmarked field is not illegal in most states. Climbing a fence to do so, is also not generally illegal.
Just one little word (Score:2)
haha
Hobbyists turned thieves (Score:3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leominster_hoard/ [wikipedia.org]
provides multiple links to various news sites, some of which are paywalled, and others not.
Basically they violated national laws about reporting found historical artifacts and sharing with the person who actually owns the land and are now in jail for theft.
interest... waning... (Score:2)
The summary doesn't say WHY this became a nightmare, and TFA can't be read without disabling my adblocker. On to the next topic.
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yes it can be read.
the full page loads, and just before the "adblock warning" you can copy the whole page very quickly (ctrl-a / ctrl-c) and copy the entire atricle.
paste in to word (or notepad) and read away - I've just read most of the article this way.
intersting read.
TLDR, no curse (Score:5, Informative)
Greedy guys tried to sell coins and gold on the black market, were convicted of not reporting the treasure (years in prison). The site was not able to be unearthed by archeologists and the rest has been either lost to the black market, or hidden due to notoriety. Another find not far away was handled legally, and provided historical changes and millions in profits, overshadowing what could have been. No curse, just run of the mill law breaking, prison time, and lost history.
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Obviously the Vikings wanted that to be lost to history. They have a right to erasure, so certainly burying treasure is trying to be forgotten.
Desecrating a Viking cultural heritage? (Score:2)
Modern day Viking clans are very sensitive about non-Viking scientists and adventurers plundering what they had stolen fair-and-square from English who that they had murdered.
Property of the British Crown? These goods need to be returned to the proper Viking clan.
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Oh, you think that because someone worked and got something that it isn't fair?
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Well the article might've used that adjective, it wouldn't be an appropriate summation without the connotation of what was expressed.
As for my personal opinion? Well, compare to another case in different community where not only did the discoverers profit, but the owner too, as well as historical knowledge and cultural info was gained. You can see the results of all their work in a museum. In this case however, folks intentionally broke laws, stole, did less work, denied all of us that info purely trying
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If this was on some guys private land, I can see how this is stealing. If you consider it "public property" absolutely not. Give this guy some $$$.
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Both finds were on private property, and there are public laws there surrounding historical finds. They asked permission of neighbors, but not where the find was.
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They should have watched the show 'Detectorists' (Score:2)
Dectorists (Score:1)
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The Curse (Score:3)
All ye who enter into this thread shall be doomed to wander through poorly written summaries and overly verbose articles, fighting your way through paywalls for the rest of eternity.
Forsooth, the Curse along with the Scolding (Score:3)
for not being quick of keyboard finger to snatch the scribblings ere they vanish?
Mmhmm. (Score:1)
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As I waded through the turgid prose ... (Score:3)
... I did espy the scroll button upon the right hand side, and lo! it had barely moved from its starting position. What an arduous quest, and for what reward? Onward went I, though my companions tired of the pointless toil, and one by one trudged back home and went down the pub. Shall I be the first to finally reach the end of the article? Not bloody likely, its the pub for me too.