Unsustainable damage to the heritage of East Anglia?

In 2010 I was invited to write a forum piece for the Papers of the Institute of Archaeology on the Portable Antiquities Scheme [online]. My paper raised a number of issues including under-reporting, damage to the archaeological record, and a reflection on the scale of removal of antiquities. There were several invited responses, including one from Paul Barford who will be presenting a paper at the April Heritage Seminar. Barford has raised a number of concerns about the long-term impact of metal-detecting on the archaeological record. The seminar will, I am sure, debate the issue and while I suspect that not all will agree with Barford, there will be some constructive dialogue.