6.8: Targeting Known Sites


One of the benefits claimed for the propagation of unregulated 'metal detecting' in the UK is that during their search for collectables, artefact hunters find archaeological sites and assemblages in places that allegedly archaeologists never go. On the other hand, in working out where to go artefact hunting (referred to among artefact hunters as "researching" an area) artefact hunters will attempt to locate productive sites. One way of doing this is to use the archaeological literature and other published sources of information to find places where finds have been made in the past. The result of this is that in a number of cases artefact hunters are targeting sites that are already known, and in many cases have already been partially investigated.

In such cases, responsible artefact hunting would ensure that any removal of evidence from this site would be done in a way that effectively produces information adding to or extending the research results of the previous work. Simply treating it as a quarry for the indiscriminate removal of collectables without fully and properly recording their contexts and depositing that information is a proper project archive is simply destructive. The best way to determine how to do this would, in every case, be consulting with archaeologists already involved in work on the site. This should involve the creation of and adherence to a written search proposal, agreed with the landowner and archaeologists concerned.

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