Hobby metal detecting for archaeological objects is a contentious issue, not least in Europe. Especially since the 1990s, the activity has increased in popularity in many places with little prospect of this reversing.

Banning or restricting hobby metal detecting may be a justified policy choice in some contexts. Far too numerous are the examples of heritage sites from all periods across Europe which have been plundered by illegal or irresponsible detectorists. Despite the increasing efforts by national and regional heritage agencies, however, the effectiveness of banning or restricting hobby metal detecting can be questioned. Is it realistic to police effectively illegal and irresponsible metal detecting by legislation alone, especially given resources to do so are limited? Might restrictive legislation just offer a comforting illusion that cultural heritage is being protected, while thousands of finds are retrieved by detectorists without the prospect of ever being recorded?

In dealing with the phenomenon of hobby metal detecting and trying to come up with constructive answers to these questions, we, the authors and members of the European Public Finds Recording Network (EPFRN), have adopted a cooperative (some might say liberal) approach towards detectorist communities. Among other aspects, this has entailed the development and provision of online digital schemes facilitating the recording of metal-detected and other public finds and hereby making them accessible to all.

 

PAS (England and Wales)    https://finds.org.uk/

https://museum.wales/portable-antiquities-scheme-in-wales/

MEDEA (Flanders)        https://vondsten.be/

PAN (The Netherlands)    https://www.portable-antiquities.nl/

DIME (Denmark)        https://dime.au.dk/

FindSampo (Finland)    https://blogs.helsinki.fi/sualt-project/

 

Out of this work, a set of guiding objectives and visions have emerged that together make the EPFRN’s vision statement presented and discussed in this article.  You can also find an outline of the visions and aims of EPFRN on our website, linked here.

With this article, we introduce our views and provide insights into the founding thoughts and principles behind our approach to metal detecting. This leads to an argument in favour of a liberal policy choice and a cooperative approach, which we have found to be the most productive response to the metal detecting phenomenon.

At least in our respective national and regional contexts, the negative aspects of the phenomenon are simply outweighed by the benefits responsible(!) metal detecting has to offer to archaeological research, to the protection of finds at risk, buried in the plough-soil and also with respect to the social role of archaeology in a changing society.

We hold that hobbyist metal detecting, and its (often) very passionate community of practitioners, offers a unique opportunity to use archaeology in the active promotion of the idea of shared stewardship and custody over heritage resources. And maybe even more than that; we also see at least potential in cooperation with responsible detectorists as a pathway towards a democratic, participatory heritage management, and as a way of releasing archaeology’s capacity to contribute to building inclusive and democratic societies.

A cooperative approach, in our perspective, stands as a more rewarding, less damaging, and more sustainable alternative to restrictive models. This is true for the northern and western European contexts in which we work, but we argue that these aspects deserve much wider consideration. We, therefore, consider it necessary and timely to re-evaluate prohibition models and to discuss openly how European archaeology can develop more constructive approaches towards hobby metal detecting.

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This post is based on an article of the same name, just published in the European Journal of Archaeology. Click here to enjoy free access to the article, now through 6 March 2020.