How to Record a Find with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (finds.org.uk)

Updated

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) records small archaeological finds discovered by the public in England and Wales, and you can report a find by working with your local Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) rather than by submitting a form on the website yourself. The site at finds.org.uk is the public home of the Scheme, run from the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru, and it provides the guides you need to prepare a good record: how to photograph finds, how to plot grid references, and how to write a useful description. This guide covers what to prepare, how to find the right contact, and what happens to your record afterwards.

What the Scheme records

PAS records small archaeological objects found by members of the public. The featured finds on the homepage show the range involved — a medieval brooch from Berkshire, a Bronze Age arrowhead from Cheshire, a Roman vessel from Warwickshire, a post-medieval pipe tamper from Wales — each with a Find ID, a date range, and an area.

Two points follow from this:

  • You do not need to be a professional. The Scheme exists precisely because finders, including metal-detector users and people who pick something up while walking, are the ones who encounter these objects.
  • Not everything is a "find" in the PAS sense. Treasure finds follow a separate legal process in England and Wales, and the site has dedicated Treasure guidance covering identification, reporting and management. If you think your object may be Treasure, read that guidance before anything else.

What to prepare before you make contact

The PAS recorder guides point to three things you should have ready. Preparing them first makes the recording conversation much shorter.

1. Photographs

The site publishes 'how to' guides for recorders on taking and editing photographs of finds. In practice you want:

  • A clear image of the front and back of the object.
  • Something for scale in the frame (a ruler is standard practice for archaeological recording).
  • Even, diffuse light rather than a hard flash, which flattens surface detail.
  • A sharp, in-focus image — a slightly soft photo is much harder to identify from than a crisp one.

2. A grid reference for the findspot

The recorder guides include how to plot grid references using maps and GPS. A grid reference is what allows the record to place the object in the landscape; a vague description like "a field near the village" is far less useful. Record the reference at the time of finding if you can, and note it accurately rather than from memory later.

3. A written description

The guides also cover how to write a good description of an object on a PAS record. A useful description typically states:

  • What the object appears to be (coin, brooch, buckle, vessel fragment, and so on).
  • Its material — copper alloy, silver, lead, ceramic, flint.
  • Its dimensions and weight if you can measure them.
  • Any decoration, inscription, or maker's mark.
  • Its condition — complete, fragmentary, corroded, bent.

You do not need to identify it correctly. Describing what you actually see is more valuable than guessing a period.

How to get your find recorded

  1. Check whether it may be Treasure. If the object could fall under the Treasure Act in England and Wales, follow the Treasure guidance on the site rather than the general recording route.
  2. Find your local contact. PAS recording is delivered through Finds Liaison Officers covering different areas. The site's user guides and "How to use this site" pages explain how to make the most of finds.org.uk as a registered member, which is where the contact and recording routes are set out.
  3. Send your photographs, grid reference, and description. Expect the officer to ask follow-up questions — this is normal and is part of building an accurate record.
  4. The officer creates the record. Records appear on the database with a Find ID in the format shown on the homepage (for example BERK-A239D9, LVPL-DCD875, WAW-96C6BA), a date range, and an area.
  5. Your record joins the wider dataset. Once recorded, the object contributes to the distribution of finds across England and Wales that researchers, archaeologists and the public can search.

What you get back

A PAS record is not a valuation and not a legal title document. What it gives you is:

  • A permanent Find ID for your object.
  • A date range and identification based on specialist knowledge.
  • A place in the national picture — the homepage's featured finds are drawn from exactly this pool of public records.

The Scheme's own framing is "Your finds, our history": the recording effort is what turns an individual discovery into information that survives.

Common sticking points

  • Assuming you must upload the record yourself. The site is built around recording through the Scheme's officers and its recorder guides, not a self-service public upload form.
  • Poor findspot information. A grid reference taken on the day is worth far more than one reconstructed weeks later.
  • One photo, bad light. Front, back, scale, diffuse light.
  • Confusing PAS recording with the Treasure process. They are separate; Treasure has its own guidance on the site.
  • Expecting a valuation. Recording is about identification and context, not appraisal.

If you are unsure where to start, the "Explore all PAS guides" section on finds.org.uk is the entry point — it groups the site guides, detecting guidance, Treasure guidance, and the recorder 'how to' guides in one place.