US social media is said to be “buzzing” about treasure hunting and many TV programmes about it are being aired. Inevitably the format has spread here with “Hoard Hunters” and even the PAS-inspired “Britain’s Secret Treasures” (after which sales of detectors rocketed).

So now there’s a “Cacheology Society of America”. There’s a touch of “dirt track survivalism” about it but could it catch on here? It seems it has – for there’s also a “Cacheology Society and Institute of the United Kingdom”! It could be just baloney, as its mission sounds unconvincing – to recover caches of lost treasure “for the expansion of mankind’s study, education, instruction, collecting, showcasing, and the preservation of caches that time and the environment rapidly and thoroughly destroy, thus erasing vital and irreplaceable historical records and artifacts of the entire world. “

Tolkein’s Smaug: academic, consevationist or cacheologist?

Tolkein’s Smaug: academic, conservationist or cacheologist?

But here’s a big question:

What if it isn’t baloney? What if we get lots of British “cacheologists” lawfully targeting archaeological sites in the hope of finding treasure caches and claiming it was “for the expansion of mankind’s study“? Would the Government approve, despite the damage caused in the process? Well, we know the answer. It’s a resounding “yes” for there are many thousands of people out today doing exactly that.

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More Heritage Action views on metal detecting and artefact collecting

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