Beneath our Feet

Recounts the incredible stories of more than 50 archaeological treasures recently found by ordinary people, and which are reshaping our understanding of British history. Britain has a rich past, with incredible archaeology. Every day, new discoveries transform our understanding of its history. Most are made not by professional archaeologists, but by members of the public. Some are chance finds; others recovered by the thousands of metal detectorists, mudlarks and fieldwalkers who scour Britains countryside and waterways looking for artefacts. Beneath Our Feet is a celebration of this growing public involvement in archaeology, and the groundbreaking work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme managed by the British Museum in England and Amgueddfa Cymru in Wales. Its mission is collaboration with public finders, encouraging them to report discoveries so they can be recorded on a national database and shared with archaeologists, curators and everyone with an interest in the past buried beneath our feet. From the 3,500-year-old Ringlemere Cup to the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard, a heart pendant connected to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and a jar of American gold coins buried by a Jewish refugee fleeing the Nazis, these are the stories of more than 50 astonishing treasures, the people who found them, and how they are reshaping British history.