This study explores the significance of Portable Antiquities Scheme data (PAS) for Lincolnshire. PAS data is analysed at different scales of time and place. This brings into focus different sources of bias and different interpretative possibilities. A series of case studies explore plough-zone datasets on smaller scales of time and place. These demonstrate how portable antiquities are important biographical components of ‘persistent places’, which have the potential to reveal structuring within the landscape over long-periods of time.