Foreword: There are many "treasure hunters" in the United Kingdom, because the continuous discovery of "Viking treasure" has also allowed many people in archaeology or related industries in the United Kingdom to join the treasure hunting army. In recent years, there have been successive excavations of cultural relics, and many of them have been found using metal detectors, and after excavation, there are good results. Generally, after the treasure is found, it needs to be reported to the relevant departments, so that the corresponding bounty will be obtained, but after the discovery of the treasure, 2 men greedily did not report the treasure and sold these treasures privately, and after being discovered, they were arrested and related personnel, and sentenced to the corresponding year's punishment.
2 men find the treasure
Powell and Davis have a common hobby, which is metal detection, so they often do detection and discovery together. One day the two were on a farm and found metal material. Because of the strong reaction of the detector, the two directly excavated these things without the consent of the farmer and without reporting to the relevant departments.
During the excavation process, the two also gained a lot of money, and dug out a lot of valuable cultural relics in it. These include metal and jewelry artifacts such as gold bracelets, gold rings and sapphire pendants, in addition to 300 ancient gold coins excavated. These cultural relics have high research value, but after the two saw these jewels and gold, they decided not to report the matter, and prepared to sell them quietly and make a lot of money.
Treasures of the Vikings
The gold dug up by the two is related to the treasure of the Vikings. According to many historical records, the Vikings were a very terrible existence at that time, they were physically strong, they were also brave and good at war, and after the Romans completely withdrew from England, they also made the various regions at that time more strife.
The discussion of the Vikings is broadly divided into two types. One of them is that the Vikings, because they are good at fighting, often plunder the treasures of other tribes, and in the process, they are also very "pirates", and burns and robberies are not evil. There is also the current Nordic perception of the Vikings, who feel that the Vikings are very good at trade, and many Vikings are adventurers.
In 2007, Viking treasures began to be discovered one after another, and after their discovery, archaeologists made judgments on the excavated artifacts, one of which was that these treasures should be Viking treasures. At the same time, there should be a lot of treasure scattered all over the UK, which also makes many people start amateur metal exploration, and constantly discover some treasures.
Sentenced for selling cultural relics
In fact, for cultural relics, each country has different regulations, but the same point is that they are all to be handed in. Because these artifacts are of great value to the study of history, Powell and Davis sold them after they detected and excavated them.
By the time the police arrested the two, only 31 of the 300 gold coins had been sold, and some of the buyers had also been identified and arrested by the police. The caught antique dealers and buyers were sentenced to less than 5 years respectively. The main culprits, Powell and Davis, were sentenced to 10 and 8 years in prison, respectively, and many of the artifacts sold by the two could not be found.
To sum up: these cultural relics can be traced back to the 9th-10th century, so they have high historical value and research value. The cultural relics discovered by the two are also very precious and valuable. If they reported it to the relevant authorities in time, according to the British reward system, they could get a bounty of 1.5 million pounds, but the two of them saw the money and made them pay a bloody lesson.