Well, more than a night, but the Danish National Museum is putting on an unusual exhibition of archaeological discoveries by amateur diggers and metal detectorists.
The hobby archaeoogists are often derided by professionals, but the museum’s curator Line Bjerg says that “What they save now means the world for what we can do in the future and how we can build our museums. “What they do really matters.” She added that because of Denmark’s muddy soils, if objects “are not saved, then they are lost to history.”
In Sweden, amateurs can use metal detectors almost everywhere as long as they get permission from the landowner, but they are not allowed to dig beneath the top layer of soil. Any archaeological finds have to be turned over to a local museum for an initial evaluation before they are transferred to the National Museum. “Last year, we had almost 18,000 objects that were sent for treasure trove processing. The year before that it was 30,000 objects,” Bjerg said.
In the current exhibit, each item is identified with its important information—and the name of the finder.
