As might be expected, I take rather a jaundiced view of many of the good news/heritage hero stories that pop up in the press.

Consequently, the finding of this bronze axe puts me in mind of the one found at the Thornborough Rally - the only one not in a very tight marshy area to the NE of the Henges and indicative of a possible SECOND ritual deposit area - which would be of major importance both in terms of archaeology and the fight to stop further quarrying in that sector. Sadly, the finder couldn't be arsed to make a note of the position so the knowledge has been entirely lost.

As for this particular story, a fellow obsessive has produced this critique of the reality behind the good news -

"We find that "one of the most interesting discoveries was the collection of lock rings. These are made of fine gold leaf overlaid on a core of beeswax". Phew, they are in amazing condition for objects that have been "in the plough soil just six to eight inches down" all this time aren't they? Is it not the case that ONCE AGAIN we have a news report here about another "metal detectorist" blindly and irresponsibly digging below plough level to extract objects which should not have been dug out in this way (if at all)? By the time the archaeologists were involved (after the event), the original archaeological context had apparently been destroyed by Mr Minns' blithe digging. ["But he didn't give up and, digging deeper, [...] "The signal was even stronger this time so I dug a little deeper. "Then, incredibly, I uncovered a Bronze Age axe. I knew what it was instantly as I'd studied the era." and then he dug deeper still to find not one or two, but 36 other objects]. All the archaeologists can do now is try to make sense out of a pile of loose objects blindly removed from their original context by the "detectorist"... He may have "studied the era" but he obviously had not studied the question of what he should do in cases like this so information is not lost. "