Keeping the records on the PAS database in step with the most recent advances in research and approved terminology is a constant and time-consuming task. In this blog post, SWYOR volunteer Joan Tozer describes the work she has been doing to update one group of objects: hooked tags and other associated fasteners. Background The PAS …more
Category: Finds
Find In Focus: Iron Age Strap Fitting
What could be more exciting than an unusual object coming across your desk? The thrill of getting to research something you’ve never seen before, the joy of sharing it with other people, the thought that you may be significantly contributing to research in to a particular period or object type! Ducks! That’s what! Much of …more
Databasing During Lockdown – A Volunteer’s View
Andy Benbow, who volunteers in the South and West Yorkshire PAS office, shares his personal experience of volunteering during the Covid-19 lockdown. This blog is a light-hearted look at the trials and tribulations of trying to record finds while volunteering at home during lockdown. This of course, means being unable to handle finds, and instead, …more
Eighteenth Century Coin Weights and Counterfeit Coins
Earlier in 2020, the South and West Yorkshire PAS office recorded an interesting coin weight, SWYOR-80FFA8, which was probably made locally in Sheffield. In this blog, SWYOR volunteer Diane Gourley looks into the history and local connections to the manufacture of this object in a little more depth. The post medieval coin weight SWYOR-80FFA8 is …more
Dealing with Special Finds when the FLO Office is Closed
Merry Christmas from the SWYOR PAS team! Our office will be closed until 2nd Jan 2020, so what do you do if you find something special? Treasure If you find potential Treasure, please email your local FLO with your name, the date of discovery, an image, and the findspot grid reference. Your email will prove …more
Thin up North? (Guest post by Rob Webley)
Introduction Working with Portable Antiquities Scheme data always throws up little puzzles. By grappling with them together we can hopefully advance knowledge, however gradually. I am a medievalist working in the south of the country, and was therefore struck by a particular strap-end type whose findspots seemed to cluster in the North (though I was …more
A Medieval Heraldic Harness Fitting from Yorkshire
This colourful find, a medieval heraldic harness fitting dating from c. 1250-1400, caught our attention in the South and West Yorkshire office. The finder, Ian Cushnie, kindly provided his own research in identifying the family whose arms it depicted. Building on that research, this post by Graham Rawson (PAS volunteer, SWYOR) seeks to give some …more
National Volunteers Week 2018 – Meet the South and West Yorkshire Volunteer Team
To celebrate UK National Volunteers Week (1-7th June 2018), we’d like to introduce you to the hard working volunteers in the South and West Yorkshire office. Jared, Jack, Ian and Phil are Amy’s dedicated team, tirelessly helping to record the 1000s of artefacts that pass through the office each year, with very little grumbling! Everyone …more
‘Wooperton-type’ strap-ends by Robert Webley
This post provides a brief(ish) update on a well-published type of 9th-century strap-end depicting two beasts rendered in the Trewhiddle style. The name ‘Wooperton type’ comes from an example published by Richard Bailey in 1993, and arguably has a better ring to it than ‘Thomas Class A, Type 1avii’, as the type was designated in …more
Searching for a Link
PAS self-recorder and one-time PAS volunteer Andrew Ramsden describes his research into die-linking on a particularly nice Medieval coin that was minted exactly 800 years ago this year. “When I was invited by my local FLO, Amy Downes, to assist in the recording of hammered coins at her office, I jumped at the chance as …more
