Archaeology: Turning Amateurs into Information

The Guardian had an excellent article this week about how British amateur archaeologists and metal detectorists – previously the bane of professional archaeologists – have been harnessed to vastly increase our knowledge of the UK. A network has been put in place to record and map their finds, allowing others to study it and find settlements and other lost locations. The article seems to suggest that the scheme has been a success, tying into a growing public interest in archaeology which has emerged thanks to television shows over the last two decades.