Following on from the issues of metal detecting, where for many, their only interest in the hobby is for profit, more efforts need to be made to ensure that archaeological finds are reported properly in the UK, as evidenced by the colossal (bearing in mind the size / population of the country) figures for artefacts not being handed over in Northern Ireland.

From:
Irish Central

Public hold on to 1.5 million archaeological finds – fail to hand in finds to museums
Ancient finds stuck in limbo in Northern Ireland
Updated Tuesday, July 3, 2012, 9:56 AM
By ANTOINETTE KELLY, IrishCentral Staff Writer

Over one and a half million Northern Irish archaeological finds are still in possession of the private companies that unearthed them.

The ancient remains, including pottery, metalwork, and human remains, were discovered by commercial companies redeveloping construction sites for new roads or buildings.
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A more recent case of an artefact in a UK museum – that its original owners want returned because they feel that it symbolises more for to them than it does to the museum it is currently in.

From:
Irish Central

The Keane Edge
by Brendan Patrick Keane

Pressure on a British museum to return Gal Gréine to Ireland, and honor Constance Markiewicz, Irish nationalist and feminist leader

During the Easter Rising of 1916, the British administration engaged in a shock and awe campaign to destroy Dublin, and the morale of Dubliners, by the brute force of its army. Destruction and looting was a psychological tactic, and much treasure was whisked from the capital city of Ireland, back to the imperial city of London, as trophies of the British empire’s brutal resistance to self-determination.
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