Metal Detectorists in Russia

Sam Hardy has calculestimated that there are some 75,158 illicit detectorists in Russia (2016,pp. 217–19 but I believe a fresh estimate is coming) and I was looking at an anti-war Twitter ('X') exchange and this information came to mind. 

The tweet is this: 

Bricktop_NAFO @Bricktop_NAFO 
A Reminder For Russia.
Don't talk about Nukes so much when your population density looks like this.

2:53 AM · Jan 11, 2025 · 4,636 Views

followed by this:

Clair Cognizant @CarolynGarman5 · 4h
One big boom, one small boom; that's it. Light's out.

The consequences of nuclear war and the Mutually Assured Destruction do not bear thinking about. As one assumes the first strike would be an all-out attack by the madmen in the east (who at the moment almost daily recklessly threaten the west with it [RTV]), the fact that we could probably eliminate further threat and take the whole country back to the Late Bronze Age by a less environmentally damaging limited number of strikes is poor consolation.

Mutually Assured Destruction pic.twitter.com/s3yRul9hXe

— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) September 14, 2024

A more down-to-earth conclusion if that this map probably represents where the metal detectorists are in the country. These areas are also the main centres of wealth of citizens (metal detectors are rather a luxury item for most hobbyists - though not professional looters). They are also what might be termed (or at least before the brutal Feb 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine when things changed) centres of western influence. Its where the main western shopping centres, services were based. 

So this is where the Russian archaeological heritage was being ripped up for the gratification of collectors. 

Hardy, S. A. 2016, ‘Black Archaeology’ in Eastern Europe: Metal Detecting, Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Objects, and ‘Legal Nihilism’ in Belarus, Poland, Russia, and Ukraine. Public Archaeology, 15(4):214–237, October, 2016.