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’s history runs deep – and much of its treasured past lies hidden underfoot. Every day, new discoveries are unearthed not by expert archaeologists but by amateur enthusiasts. Armed with spades and maps, these detectorists, mudlarks and fieldwalkers scour the earth’s surface. What they find is perhaps at first glance unremarkable: fragments of pottery, metal coins, jewellery. But from the pieces emerge stories of how our ancestors lived, traded, ate, played, fought – and died.

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.