The final stage of the Crown claiming process of the Treasure Trove system is the allocation of a claimed item to an accredited/registered museum. This is deemed to transfer ownership to that museum.

To be eligible to receive allocated portable antiquities a museum must have formal accreditation/registration under the Museums, Libraries and Archives scheme administered in Scotland by MGS.

A stratigraphic entity within which it is reasonable to assume found objects are directly related to each other (see assemblage).

An archaeological site consists of a series of linked archaeological contexts, such that it is reasonable to assume that associated items form an assemblage. Delimiting the total extent of an archaeological site, particularly an unexcavated one, is often difficult and SAFAP members will exercise their best judgement (and make use, for example, of c [..]

A general term used for an associated group of portable antiquities. This term is used in a narrow sense to describe a group of finds from a single restricted archaeological context, or in a wider sense to refer to all the finds from a particular archaeological site or (in some cases) from an entire fieldwork project.

The process of determining the significance of a reported portable antiquity with regard to claiming or unclaiming.

A Latin term which is translated as 'ownerless goods'. The Crown has the right to claim bona vacantia

All Crown-claimed material is allocated a case number by the QLTR. A single case number may cover a single object, a group of objects from the same findspot, or an assemblage from a fieldwork project.

Refers to all portable antiquities other than those recovered by organized archaeological fieldwork. All discoveries made by users of metal detectors are regarded as chance finds, other than those made in conjunction with organized archaeological fieldwork. Chance finds are normally objects without an archaeological context.

These terms refer to the exercise by the Crown through the QLTR of its right to own a portable antiquity under the Treasure Trove system. The Crown This term refers to the entity entitled at common law to assert its right of ownership of apparently ownerless goods (bona vacantia