The British Museum reveals the biggest treasure finds to the public in a record year

The British Museum released its annual list of archaeological items found by the public – and the latest list is record-breaking, the museum said this week.

In total, 53,490 archaeological discoveries were recorded in 2022, and more than 1,300 of those finds were “treasure chests,” the British Museum said in a press release. Most items were found by people discovering metals, but some were made by searching the mud of river banks for artifacts, a practice the museum calls “mud larks.”

“The record-breaking figures underline the huge contribution the public is making to expanding archaeological knowledge in the UK today,” the museum said in the press release.

The finds included an intricately carved bone rosary, a 3,000-year-old gold dress clasp and a hoard of Iron Age gold coins found in a hollow container. The discovered finds could end up in museums or other collections, the museum said.

The treasure finds are covered by the UK’s Portable Antiquities Scheme, which catalogs and records information about historical items found by the public. The project is managed by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales) and supported by almost a hundred national and local organisations.

According to a statement from Michael Lewis, director of the project at the British Museum, the organization has helped record nearly 1.7 million finds.

In this context, the United Kingdom defines a treasure as “any metallic object of which at least 10 percent by weight is gold or silver and which is at least 300 years old at the time of discovery.” In 2023, the definition was updated to include objects , some of which are made of metal that is at least 200 years old and, due to their location, offer “extraordinary insights into an aspect of national or regional history, archeology or culture” with a connection to a person or event or their rarity.