Between Rescue and Research: An Evaluation after 30 Years of Liberal Metal Detecting in Archaeological Research and Heritage Practice in Denmark

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, metal detector surveying conducted by amateur archaeologists has contributed significantly to archaeological research and heritage practice in Denmark. Here, metal detecting has always been legal, and official stakeholders pursue a liberal model, focusing on cooperation and inclusion rather than confrontation and criminalization. Like no other surveying method since the invention of the shovel, the metal detector has contributed to increasing enormously the amount of data and sites from metal-rich periods. Virtually all of the spectacular and ground-breaking discoveries of the past decades are owed to metal detectors in the hands of amateur archaeologists. And it is these finds and sites that today constitute one of the very foci of archaeological research. This article provides an overview of the current status of liberal metal detector archaeology in Denmark 30 years after its inception, and attempts to identify the reasons why this popular hobby never developed into the problem it has become in other parts of the world. It concludes that the success of the liberal model in Denmark is the result of a very complex interplay of legislative, historical, cultural, and social factors. On this basis, it is discussed whether the Danish experience can be used as a source of inspiration in the necessary progression towards a new legal agenda for responsible metal detector archaeology.

MEDEA: Crowd-Sourcing the Recording of Metal-Detected Artefacts in Flanders (Belgium)

“…Successful examples abroad, notably the Portable Antiquities Scheme (Lewis 2013(Lewis , 2016 and the Danish Danefae (Dobat 2013, Dobat, Jensen 2016 confirm that key factors in mobilizing detectorists are feedback from the 'experts' -professional archaeologists and heritage managers -in the form of recognition and knowledge; not necessarily financial remuneration. Another element contributing to the success of these schemes is transparency: making clear how researchers make real use of the reported information.…”

Comments on Josephine Munch Rasmussen: ‘Securing Cultural Heritage Objects and Fencing Stolen Goods? A Case Study on Museums and Metal Detecting in Norway’

“…Recent research on the characterization of metal detecting, as well as its wider impacts, has included studies on the UK (e.g. Thomas 2012, Ferguson 2013, Estonia (Ulst 2010), Denmark (Dobat 2013) and very recently the Netherlands (van der Schriek and van der Schriek in press 2014) and Finland (Immonen and Kinnunen in press 2014) to name a few European examples. This article, introducing for the first time such a study carried out in Norway, represents an important and timely addition to the metaldetector user research discourse.…”

In Defence of Small Things Forgotten

“…Small things forgotten in the ploughed zone contain important scientific knowledge, if measured in properly by GPS (Dobat 2013). Increased qualitative knowledge of central sites, trading sites, etc., has accumulated over the last 30 years as a result of increased detector finds.…”