Swiss Archaeological Service Tries New Weapon Against Illegal Excavations.

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Treasure hunters (SF/swissinfo.ch) February 24, 2011 Archaeological service finds new weapon against illegal excavations. Illegal treasure hunters are a growing threat to archaeology. Finds end up in private homes and important historic information is lost to science. The canton of Zug is trying new ways to fight illegal excavations and has persuaded a former treasure hunter to change sides. Note the way the report links what some would have us believe is "just metal detecting" to the more general issues of artefact hunting and looting.

 

Obviously there are those who will argue that Zug should simply allow artefact hunting and try to persuade the men with metal detectors to report everything they find. The British experience however shows this is totally impractical, as artefact hunters are not going to collect the shapeless scraps we see being recorded and analysed here, neither does it seem that there is any way (even fifteen years outreach costing upwards of 14 million quid) that these artefact hunters can be persuaded to report everything they find. Even in England (as I have argued here), it seems the shortfall is of staggering proportions. Thirdly getting any precision of recording from all of them seems an unrealistic dream.

(Hat tip to Kyri for this link, Swiss Guards)