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Metal detecting: calling time on erosion
The hobby of metal detecting (the hunting and collecting of metal and other archaeological artefacts for recreation or profit) has long been controversial because it erodes the buried archaeological resource and results in the loss of society’s knowledge of its past. In recent years, calls for regulation or banning have been muted due to the setting up of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a voluntary reporting scheme intended to encourage responsible behaviour and the reporting of finds. Despite the Government making this scheme available, only a minority of the ten thousand detectorists go along with it.
Clearly this state of affairs cannot go on indefinitely as the resource is delicate, finite and dwindling and the knowledge of it is being lost. The objects themselves are being progressively scattered through thousands of private collections or sold on EBay without ever being subject to expert examination and the crucial knowledge of the surrounding archaeological layers from which they have been taken is being destroyed. See why it matters.
However, the publication of the Code of Practice on Responsible Metal Detecting in England and Wales in May 2006 was a watershed. This document, compiled by a critical mass of prestigious organisations (including the main detectorists’ ones) expresses a clear joint opinion on what is “Responsible Detecting” - particularly the key point that it entails reporting all finds to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. This document carries unrivalled authority and therefore imposes upon each detectorist a very clear choice to either comply or not.
Some have complied with it (since it reflects what they already do) but the great majority have specifically chosen not to. Most detectorists never report their finds to PAS and assert their moral right to exploit the resource however they choose without society having any rights in the matter. A self-written opposition code more suited to detectorists was drafted by one group within days, omitting the crucial provisions of the official one in respect of reporting all finds to PAS.
Detectorists spread out to ensure nothing is missed (Credit Heritage Action)
Heritage Action has always supported efforts to persuade the hobby to voluntarily act in the public interest. However, the staff of the Portable Antiquities Scheme has been attempting at great public expense to persuade the hobby to act in an acceptable fashion for a decade, clearly without success in the case of the majority. A year has passed at the time of writing since the publication of the official Code making it crystal clear to all detectorists what the rest of society expects of them in terms of responsibility. Yet there is absolutely no sign that the official Code's definition of responsible detecting, reporting all finds to PAS with full details, has been taken on board by most detectorists. Quite the reverse.
Consequently we feel the time is now right to amend our standpoint.
We see the public interest and conservation of the resource as out-ranking the rights of detectorists to act purely in their own interest and see no reason for society to allow a continuing major erosion of the resource and loss of historical knowledge. In our view the time has come for Britain to fall into line with the vast majority of countries in taking steps to protect its buried archaeological resource.
Already in Northern Ireland the law prohibits metal detecting unless it has been licensed by the Department of the Environment and on the basis that all finds are reported. We see this as the appropriate option for the rest of Britain, good for the conservation of the archaeological resource and fair to the minority of detectorists who are demonstrably willing to conduct their hobby in a responsible manner.
However, as an interim measure we suggest that the public can play a part in resource conservation by ensuring that if any permission to detect is given it is only to detectorists who are fully committed to act in accordance with the official Code of Practice. See how the public can help.
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