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Working with Archaeological Finds

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K Bearcock

Working with finds can involve seeing many different objects and meeting lots of different people. A normal day for someone who works with archaeological finds is extremely varied.

For example a typical week for a Finds Assistant might involve:

  • washing finds
  • identifying and bagging finds
  • carefully packaging more delicate finds like iron objects
  • marking pottery
  • supervising volunteers
  • transferring records to the computer
  • moving finds to storage.

Katherine Bearcock was a Finds Assistant and says

There is nothing too bad about the job, although washing finds in cold water in January is not much fun!

Being a Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) is another job which involves working with archaeological finds. A FLO working for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) records archaeological objects found by the public and helps people learn about them and the past. A FLO can record thousands and thousands of finds in a year! The objects are either bought to FLOs by members of the public or taken to local museums. A FLO has to:

  • describe, identify and date finds
  • sometimes photograph and draw finds
  • record where finds came from (by looking at a map and recording the National Grid Reference).
    • All this information goes on the PAS database, which you can visit online.

Finds Liaison Officer Erica Darch says

The best things about my job are seeing really interesting artefacts, and that every day is different. But I also have to travel around a lot and sometimes work in the evening or at weekends. To be a good FLO you need to know how to identify and record archaeological objects, be able to read maps, be a good communicator and it really helps to be able to drive.