British metal detecting through an Irish lens

As so often before, the Irish system of heritage protection has just provided a massive negative commentary on the British one. See here: “In the first half of this year, seven illegal metal detecting incidents have been reported to the National Monuments Service“. Shock horror! Imagine! Seven in six months!

However, if we apply the Irish definition of illegal metal detecting (which broadly means metal detecting that’s not part of a pukka archaeological project) to Britain, in that time there are usually over half a million such cases.

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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