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Comment by gadders | Hacker News Reader

>>These laws are a balancing act between heritage conservation and civil rights like allowing people to enjoy metal detecting as a hobby. Without these laws and effective enforcement of them, looters show up with bulldozers, metal detectors, and work crews in the middle of the night to dig up anything they can sell to what's now a billion dollar global market. I've spent a lot of time as an archaeologist looking at the aftermath and doing public education to stop it.

That doesn't seem to happen in England, which allows metal detecting.

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Effectively the same thing applies in the UK. Intentionally searching for these kinds of objects requires an archaeological excavation permit. Unintentionally finding one requires reporting it.

> That doesn't seem to happen in England, which allows metal detecting.

In England you need permission of the landowner (or which ever authority is responsible for a piece of public land) and must report any archeological finds. There's a lot of illegal metal detecting at night - "Nighthawking", and fairly tough convictions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nighthawking

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-68445207

Laws requiring permission from the land owner to use a metal detector and dig vs. needing such permission on your own land seems very different IMO.

The English law seems focused on preventing trespassing and digging holes in people's yards, and also to make sure the land owner gets compensated for anything of value found. (e.g. from the link by madax below: In England "An experienced detectorist, Davies would have known he was entitled to half of the proceeds of legal sale of the treasure, instead choosing to deprive the landowner and public by stealing this exceptional and significant treasure.")

The Irish law seems focused on preventing anything from being found.

There is also a fair bit of anger against FLOs (Find Liaison Offers) that the finds are reported to. Detectorists often get low-balled on the value of their find (after a 2 year wait) to make the item affordable for local museums.

The sitcom The Detectorists goes into this hobby in the UK in a lot of detail and has several plots about reporting responsibilities.

What a fantastic show. The entire thing was so cozy.

Yes, reporting. Not that the whole thing is illegal unless granted government permission.

Literally from the same day’s news: “Metal detectorist who stole £3m Viking hoard jailed for five more years”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/12/metal-detect...

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