Postscript (Monday)

It snowed quite a bit in London over the weekend, causing the usual travel chaos; but I was able to get into the British Museum (pictured) ok today.

I had a fascinating few days in Denmark:

It was great to hear about Danefae first-hand, from both museum staff and detectorists. It is clear that there is a long tradition of amature archaeology in Denmark, and a general belief that archaeological finds should be in museums (for all to enjoy and study) rather than private collections. It is possible for museums to aquire all finds they want because museums don’t have to bid for funding (the state provides it) and rewards are not set at the full market value. However, if many more people were to take up metal-detecting in Denmark it is not clear whether this ability to acquire ‘at will’ could be sustained - it was certainly the view of the detectorists that I met that fewer finds would be claimed Danefae in the future.

Given the number of metal-detectorists in England and Wales, the differences in the material culture (principally the high numbers of Roman finds found in the UK each year), and finder’s demands for a ‘fair-price’ for finds acquired by museums, it seems to me that the Danish system (not that its politically viable at this time) would not be attractive to English and Welsh metal-detectorists, though it would probably be supported (as a better alternative) by many archaeologists and museum curators here. Interestingly most people in Denmark seemed less favourable disposed towards the English system, believing finders to be greedy and rewards too high, though to some extent that reflects press coverage of big Treasure finds.

As in England and Wales, Danish detector finds have great research potential. The fact that all Danefae finds (apart from coins) are collated on a single database at the Nationalmuseet allows these finds to be studied and researched, though it would be good if this database was publicly available (and also available in English); that would be of enormous benefit to reserchers and Danish finders themselves. I was intigued to discover that some finds I expected to be common in Denmark were not, whilst others that I did not expect to see have been found. Given England/Wales and Denmark have (broadly) similar systems, metal-detecting is legal, and finds are recorded, it is clear there is good scope for future collaboration.

I’d just like to end by thanking my hosts in the Nationalmuseet (particularly Michael Anderson, Anne Pederson and Lisbeth Imer) and the detectorists who I met in Lejre (and others who I have subsequently corresponded with online) for such an enjoyable and informative trip.