Private Metal Detecting and Legislation: is it working? A research propasal

Abstract

During the past two decades, the hobby of metal detecting has, to both the joy and regret of professional archaeologists, become increasingly popular in the Nordic countries. Some countries allow private metal detecting with only few restrictions, while others ban or restrict it heavily. It appears that all countries examined in this thesis, are subject to some degree of illicit metal detecting. Although objects in the plough soil are known to deteriorate, professional archaeology cannot investigate all areas due to lack of resources and because archaeology is most often development led.Allowing private metal detecting should, ideally, result in reported finds. On the one hand, such finds provide valuable archaeological knowledge, but on the other, they also require cultural heritage management resources to process. Resources many institutions do not have.Based an enquiry into legislation and current practice in the Nordic Countries, England and Wales, with special emphasis on Denmark (liberal) and Sweden (strict), this thesis aims to address the following question: What legislation is most suitable to protect cultural heritage - Liberal or strict? As the main findings of this thesis will show, too strict or too liberal legislation appears to result in serious illicit activities and underreporting of finds. Countries with liberal legislation, but with some restrictions, appears to suffer less illicit activities, but experience an unfortunate change in detectorists from amateur archaeologists into treasure hunters without any archaeological understanding.