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Unearthing Perspectives: Exploring the views of heritage professionals and hobbyists on the current state of metal detecting in Estonia

Tuuli Kurisoo and Maria Smirnova

Cite this as: Kurisoo, T. and Smirnova, M. 2025 Unearthing Perspectives: Exploring the views of heritage professionals and hobbyists on the current state of metal detecting in Estonia, Internet Archaeology 68. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.68.3

Summary

This article presents the results of an online survey that explores the views of Estonian heritage professionals and hobbyists on the current state of metal detecting, which has become a popular activity. The hobby is fairly well regulated by law, and both the state and the hobbyists have clear obligations. We asked how local archaeologists and metal detectorists perceive the status quo, what they find positive and negative, and what they would like to see changed. While the majority of the professional archaeologists could point to several positive aspects (e.g. new information, finds), they were clearly concerned about the impact of metal detecting and the capacity of the National Heritage Board to manage the current system. Hobbyists appreciated direct communication with the state, feedback and mandatory training, but were frustrated by the slow pace of feedback, burdensome legislation and mediocre digital solutions. The Estonian archaeological community is small and accustomed to the role of experts. Metal detecting is more of an individual hobby, still in its early stages of development. Similar to several other studies, we believe that better cooperation would help both these stakeholders to perceive archaeology as a common resource that can be used in different ways, but with a shared sense of responsibility.

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  • Keywords: archaeology. metal detecting, survey, regulation, heritage management, thematic analysis, Estonia
  • Accepted: October 2024. Published: June 2025
  • Funding: This article was funded by the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS) grant no 335213 for the project From Treasure Hunters to Citizen Scientists: metal-detecting and archaeological heritage in the Nordic region.
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Corresponding author: Tuuli KurisooORCID logo
tuuli.kurisoo@tlu.ee
Tallinn University

Maria SmirnovaORCID logo
University of Tartu

Full text

Figure 1: Graph showing the work experience of surveyed archaeologists in years

Figure 2: Graph showing the interaction of surveyed archaeologists with hobbyists

Figure 3: Positive codes and themes expressed by Estonian heritage professionals regarding hobbyist metal detecting

Figure 4: Negative codes and themes expressed by Estonian heritage professionals regarding hobbyist metal detecting

Figure 5: Graph showing the detecting experience in years and whether the surveyed hobbyists hold a licence

Figure 6: Positive codes and themes expressed by Estonian hobbyists regarding hobbyist metal detecting

Figure 7: Negative codes and themes expressed by Estonian hobbyists regarding hobbyist metal detecting

Figure 8: Graph showing the number of licence holders and archaeologists at the NHB who are responsible for hobbyists and their discoveries

Table 1: Target groups and open ended survey questions

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