Chronicle (1966)

The Metal Detectives (1980x3)

: 07, 1980

Treasure hunting is suddenly big news, with the discovery in Ireland of the Derrynaflan Chalice. But despite the importance of the find, archaeologists have viewed the discovery with mixed feelings because it was found by a man using a metal detector. While treasure hunters 'prospect', archaeologists believe that irresponsible metal-detector users are destroying valuable evidence of the nation's archaeological past and profiting from the proceeds. Next month the Government plans to introduce new penalties for metal-detector users who go on scheduled sites. They also propose to put rescue archaeology on a statutory basis and declare new archaeological areas out-of-bounds for treasure hunters. Chronicle investigates whether metal-detector users really are a threat to archaeology.