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No Room for Good Intentions? Private Metal Detecting and Archaeological Sites in the Plow Layer in Norway

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Competing Values in Archaeological Heritage

Abstract

The concept of automatic protection of archaeological sites and monuments, predating a certain age, in the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Act doesn’t separate between visible and non-visible sites, or between known or listed sites and the previously unknown ones. The principle is that any site or monument fulfilling the right age criteria has equal juridical protection, even in the plow zone. While farming activities are legal on automatically protected sites in the plow zone, implied restrictions in the law preclude the free private use of metal detectors on the same sites, regardless of whether the intention is to rescue endangered archaeological objects in the topsoil.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Directorate for Cultural Heritage (Riksantikvaren), Oslo, Norway

    Jostein Gundersen

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  1. Jostein Gundersen
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Correspondence to Jostein Gundersen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Treasure Trove Unit, National Museum Scotland, Edinburgh, UK

    Stuart Campbell

  2. Institute of Petrochemical Technology, Beijing, China

    Liz White

  3. Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Suzie Thomas

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Gundersen, J. (2019). No Room for Good Intentions? Private Metal Detecting and Archaeological Sites in the Plow Layer in Norway. In: Campbell, S., White, L., Thomas, S. (eds) Competing Values in Archaeological Heritage. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94102-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94102-8_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94101-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94102-8

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