Online research of early Celtic art in Britain -- part 5

Metal detecting harvested field (Geograph)
photo: Evelyn Simak

Of far smaller scale than the Portable Antiquities Scheme is the UK Detector Finds Database which (currently) lists 303 items in the Celtic/Iron Age artifact category. Like the P.A.S., the terms "strap junction" and "strap union" are not linked and references are not standardized. It is somewhat more "user friendly", but it is best to start at the actual database page than using the general search which seems to have some problems when you change the number of items displayed after a search. At the database page select "Celtic/Iron Age and conduct your search from that point. If you do a general search at the main search page and enter Iron Age "strap junction" (as in the P.A.S. example yesterday) you will get no records at all. Under the Celtic/Iron Age category, a search for strap junction yields 15 results and strap union only one. Not quite all of the items are strap junctions as it searches for a mention of the term so if an object has a feature shared with a strap junction, that object will also be displayed.

The use of images from the site is covered on the copyright page which states:

Copyrights to all of the material on this website are retained by the individual rights holders. They have allowed use of their information on condition that it is used only for personal or educational, non-commercial use...

British Celtic strap junction
Taylor and Brailsford type 1, early 1st cent AD
© (undisclosed) 

However, on each record page, the owner of  the copyright is not named and there is a general UKDFD copyright notice as a footer to the page. I have decided to handle the situation as demonstrated in the photo to the right. The first line is a link to the record, the second line is entirely my own text and the third line links to the copyright conditions quoted above. In this way, if anyone wants to use the image for commercial use they can contact UKDFD for contact information.

Even this, however, is clearer than on the PAS copyright page which allows for personal, non-commercial, but apparently not educational free use. This is contrary to the British Museum site's own copyright policy which states (very clearly):

We wish to encourage the dissemination of information about our collection and expertise, through, for example, teaching, web resources and printed materials.