Cite this as: Fredriksen, C., Engesveen, A., Skare, E., Smiseth, M-T. and Pilø, L. 2025 Preserving the past in the plough zone together: Hobby metal detecting in Innlandet County as a case of good practice within the Norwegian legal framework, Internet Archaeology 68. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.68.2
This article presents and discusses the practice of Norwegian metal detecting from the perspective of Innlandet County. The authors perceive hobby metal detecting in Norway as an essentially good thing even with its downsides, and believe that a collaborative approach is the best way to preserve the past in the plough zone. The case study of the Innlandet practice is based on first-hand experiences of the Innlandet archaeologists. We present how the Innlandet practice has emerged, how archaeologists communicate with detectorists, and how the archaeological context of finds in the plough zone is understood. In our opinion, general in situ protection in the plough zone is the 'worst practice' within the Norwegian legal framework.
Corresponding author: Caroline Fredriksen
[email protected]
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Anne Engesveen
Kjetil Skare
May-Tove Smiseth
Lars Pilø
Figure 1: The protection status of sites recorded by metal detecting in Norwegian Counties, 30.1.2020. Due to significant differences in numbers of finds per county, the percentage distribution of each protection status label is given. Image credit: Caroline Fredriksen
Figure 2: A map of Norway with Innlandet County marked. Image credit: Caroline Fredriksen
Figure 3: Number of finds per county in the Museum of Cultural History's jurisdiction. Being one of five University museums in Norway, its jurisdiction covers 5 out of 11 counties. Image credit: Caroline Fredriksen
Figure 4: The 2020 detector meeting in Innlandet, held on the historic Åker farm near Hamar. Photo: Anne Engesveen
Figure 5: A typical find assemblage found on the Herset farm, Hamar municipality, by detectorist Øivind Moe 2016-2023. The farm is first mentioned in historical sources in 1593. No known finds came from the farm prior to the detector search. The farm name suggests a Late Iron Age (550-1050 CE) origin, but there are three fragments of brooches and a buckle belonging to the Migration Period (350-550 CE) among the finds, suggesting an earlier date. Not to scale. Photos: Øivind Moe
Figure 6: Distribution map of the detector finds on Herset farm, Hamar municipality (seen in Figure 5). The detectorist searching the farm works in a mostly unsystematic fashion, and rarely digs iron signals. The low-lying areas to the south and east are damp, and the detectorist has not searched here. The finds are widely distributed in the fields with no clear chronological concentrations, the exception being three Viking Age finds near the farm road, but they are parts of the same trefoil brooch. Image credit: Lars Pilø
Figure 7: Refitting parts of a damaged buckle from around 600 CE (locations shown with red circles), found with a wide distribution in a field. Image credit: Lars Pilø
Figure 8: A collage of some of the most important detector finds from Innlandet County, found 2011-2022. Not to scale. From the top left corner: Flanged axe, Early Bronze Age (finder (F): Steen Agersø, photo (P): Freddy Arntsen); La Tène fibula, 1.-2. century BCE (F&P: Roger Mickelson); Gold berlock, 1.-2. century CE (F&P: Vegard Høystad Lunna) ;Roman denarius (Marcus Aurelius, 2nd century CE) (F&P: Frank Robert Ludvigsen) ; Gold fingerring, 3.-4. century CE, with a medieval inscription (F&P: Rune Thyregod Paulsen); Gold Bracteate, Migration Period (350-550 CE) (F&P: Terje Marken); Agraf button, Migration Period (F&P: Ola Andreas Vestby Sandlie); Domed brooch, Merovingian Period (AD 550-800) (F&P: Kenny Hansen); Frankian denarius (Charles the Bald), 9th century CE (F&P: Terje Staale Sande); Insular metalwork, VIking Age (F&P: Kenny Hansen); Patrice for a Hiddensee-type brooch, Viking Age (F&P: Hugo Falck); Rare type of domed brooch, Viking Age (F: Britt Annie Hoddø, P: Kenny Hansen); Dirhem, Viking Age (F&P: Tor Arne Tjernslien); Cross-/hammer-shaped pendant, Late Viking Ae/Early Medieval Period (F: Ole Harpøth, F: Kenny Hansen; Elaborate Urnes brooch, 11th-12th century (F&P: Kristian Thoresen); Limoges figurine, medieval (F&P: Vegard Høystad Lunna); Seal from a cloister in Denmark, medieval. (F&P: Kenny Hansen); Ring brooch in gold, medieval (F&P: Kenny Hansen)
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