A national survey commissioned by English Heritage and supported by its counterparts across the UK and Crown Dependencies has shown that the threat to heritage posed by illegal metal detecting, or nighthawking, is high. But arrest or prosecution remains at an all time low and penalties are woefully insufficient, it is claimed.
The Nighthawking Survey, published on February 16, found out that over a third of sites attacked by illegal metal detectorists between 1995 and 2008 are Scheduled Monuments and another 152 undesignated sites are also known to have been raided, but secrecy surrounding the crime means that it is significantly under-reported. Only 26 cases have resulted in formal legal action, with the punishment usually being a small fine from as little as £38 (illegally parking a car carries a £120 fine).
Lincolnshire is one of the counties with the highest number of reports of nighthawking. ‘Honey pot’ sites such as Roman sites are often targeted repeatedly and the period after ploughing is the most common time.
Illegal metal detecting is the search and removal of antiquities from the ground using metal detectors without the permission of the landowners or on prohibited land such as Scheduled Monuments. It is a form of theft and can be prosecuted under the Theft Act.
The heart of the problem lies in the vicious circle of under-reporting of the crime, which in turn creates a false picture of the seriousness of the situation, making this a low priority crime for the police. It is also compounded by the difficulty in collecting evidence.
Over time, the lack of successful prosecution has led to the lack of confidence of the victims in the legal process. The survey found out that only 14 per cent of landowners, when afflicted by nighthawking, have reported it to the police. Most of them responded by tackling the culprits themselves or imposing a complete ban on metal detecting on their land.
The survey also calls for the setting up of a central database of reported nighthawking incidents and a tightening of the Treasure Act requiring all who come into contact with treasure finds, not just the finder, to report them. Full details of the survey including its recommendations are downloadable from http://www.helm.org.uk/nighthawking
Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, Interim Chairman of English Heritage, said: "Responsible metal detecting provides a valuable record of history, but illegal activities bring responsible ones into disrepute.
"Nighthawkers, by hoarding the finds or selling them on without recording or provenance, are thieves of valuable archaeological knowledge that belongs to us all. Even in the case when the finds are retrieved, the context of how and where exactly the finds were found has been lost, significantly diminishing their historical value. In the cases of internationally important material the loss of the unique evidence that these objects provide on our common history and origins is especially poignant. By painting a clearer picture of the crime, this survey will help us to combat it more effectively."
In Lincolnshire 175 previously unknown Roman and Anglo-Saxon sites were uncovered through proper reporting. A survey of 21,169 archaeological finds recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Lincolnshire found that these came from 328 sites, 175 of which were previously unknown.
Police in Lincolnshire are committed to tackling nighthawking and have made two prosecutions at Owmby, a scheduled Roman settlement where English Heritage has had a long-term research project concerned with finds in the plough soil.
An example of how metal detectorists can work positively with archaeologists is demonstrated by the work carried out during the archaeological excavation in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire. Between 1993 and 2003 metal detectorists helped Oxford Archaeology investigate the Roman settlement by working in cold winter weather against the clock to plot more than 1,500 metal finds of different categories, mostly offerings, which helped define the area as the precinct of a 2nd century shrine complex.
Hundred of nails were also located and plotted, revealing a clear, probably circular space, thought to be the site of the shrine or altar, and the nails were used to pin offerings to the shrine. Such a detailed understanding of the site would have been impossible to achieve by either archaeologists or the detectorists working alone.
