Archaeology Versus Metal Detecting

This book offers a no-holds-barred insight into the often passionate, sometimes controversial, subject of tension and mistrust between the worlds of archaeology and metal detecting with the intent of shedding new light upon and bringing into the open some of the working practices, procedures and thoughts which have fuelled an ill-wind that flurries through levels of archaeological academia. Beginning in the mists of history, the author explores the birth of archaeological investigation from a Kings search, the grave robbers, through the antiquarian collectors, museum artefact collections through to a profession which appears these days to rely upon the construction industry and its commercialism for survival. Integrating various sources of information to highlight analytical information as well cultural, social, and economic intervention to form an unbiased argument. The later appearance of metal detecting as a hobby which fired discontent, distrust, and deliberate efforts to either go