Treasure Trove Law in Scotland

All newly discovered ancient objects in Scotland, whether of precious metal or not, belong to the Crown.

The law is the same whether such objects were:

• hidden
• just lost
• in natural ground
• in buildings

The Crown does not always exercise its claim, but all objects found should be reported to the police, museum or us, so that a decision can be made. A receipt will be issued for all objects handed in.

The police, museum or AAS will report the discovery to the Procurators Fiscal and the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer who act on the Crown's behalf. As the intention is to record or preserve such objects for the public good the Q & LTR consults an Allocation Panel about which museums should be entrusted with the finds. The Panel also advises on the importance and value of the find.

Rewards for those items that are selected for retention by the State are paid to the finders by the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer, at the receiving museum's expense, and are based on the market value of the find.

Valuations for reward purposes may be affected by the promptness with which a find is reported, and the care taken by the finder in not destroying important evidence by untrained cleaning or by unskilled digging on the site or by breaking up a group of objects, which may have considerably more value as a group than as individual items.

In all cases the major concern is the care of the find, which may need conservation treatment.

Early reporting is essential

After examination articles not required for museum collections are returned to the finder.

Treasure hunters are reminded that unauthorised disturbance of sites and monuments may lead to prosecution under the Ancient Monuments Acts.

By virtue of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979, it is an offence to use a metal detector:

• on the site of a scheduled monument
• on the site of any monument under the ownership or guardianship of the Secretary of State or of a local authority
• in an area of archaeological importance

The removal of any object from such a protected place, or the disturbance of the ground, is also an offence.

As different laws cover skeletons or other human remains, graves should always be reported to the police, who will contact a museum or us.

Inland underwater finds are treated legally in the same way as those on land. Material and sites are the concern of the Department of Trade and of the Receivers of Wreck when they occur in the beds of estuaries or the sea, in areas submerged at high tide.

Contact

Contact the Treasure Trove website

Further advice may be obtained from:

Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel
Chambers Street,
Edinburgh,
EH2 1JF.
Tel: 0131 225 7534