News of the sensational discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard was just unfolding while I was reading this book, and the harmonious tale of collaboration between all parties involved was indeed a fitting ‘happy ending’. The reporting of the hoard, the involvement of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the contribution of so many key people, the generous release of news and photographs and early display of some items have inspired public imagination: one hopes it will contribute to the creation of more positive interactions between metal-detector users and archaeologists.

Relationships between the two parties are notoriously fraught, with mistrust often exploding into open hostility: confrontation is fuelled by accusations of professional elitism and exclusivity on one side, greed and cultural insensitivity on the other. The reality is, of course, far more complex and multifaceted, and it is with the intention of exploring these themes that the book gathers together a variety of interesting contributions. It strives to give both sides a voice and concentrates on the positive, on the common ground, pointing out how both parties, albeit divided by different methodologies and aims, are driven by a shared passion for the past.

Suzie Thomas sets the scene and explores some of the tensions in Chapter 1, offering a comprehensive and nuanced guide to the various topics and citing examples of co-operation and good practice. ‘Nighthawking’, the bad side of metal detecting, is seen as the exception rather than the rule, and as a common enemy of both parties. Chapters 2–4 present perspectives from Poland, where the scale of plundering and destruction is now such that professional archaeologists have called for liberalization and changes in the law, despite unauthorized digging being illegal, while legislation in South Africa unequivocally forbids the use of metal detectors. In the United States, the development of battlefield archaeology has offered the first opportunity for collaboration between archaeologists and metal-detector users; discussion of the methodology behind the collaborative surveys, results and interpretations of case studies based on three Revolutionary War battlefields vindicates the usefulness of the machine, particularly when wielded by expert hands, and the dedication of the hobbyists is commended.

Back home, Peter Addyman discusses the period before the Portable Antiquities Scheme, including the launch in 1979 of the anti-treasure-hunting campaign STOP (‘Stop Taking Our Past’), both to educate the public and to encourage the banning of metal detecting; in the long run, its consequences came to be recognized as negative. Responsible hobbyists responded in 1981 with a Code of Conduct and relations with museums slowly improved. However, the repeated raiding of the Wanborough Roman temple site and the 1995 publication of Metal Detecting and Archaeology in England, with data demonstrating the incidence of metal detecting and the extent of the threat posed by illicit nighthawking, eventually moved the Government to support the 1996 Treasure Act, for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The realistic view was that metal detecting was here to stay and that recording the huge number of finds, even out of context, was important. The establishment of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) in 1997 was a pragmatic response to the issue.

Roger Bland, instrumental in setting up PAS, showcases some spectacular examples of ‘Treasure’ reported to the PAS. He also reviews some of the problems in the wake of the scheme’s success: museums struggle to acquire Treasure, despite help from funding bodies, and the PAS itself struggles with the processing of vast amounts of finds, partly because PAS also provides a voluntary registration system for finds that are not ‘Treasure’ as part of the scheme’s aim of ‘building knowledge, supporting learning, inspiring creativity and celebrating identity’.

Trevor Austin presents the view of metal detectorists; belonging to the generation of hobbyists that recorded finds in notebooks or cards, he was always interested in learning more about them. In those days, with notable exceptions, museums tended to turn away people like himself. Austin maintains this is a hobby with responsibilities, keenly felt, and he advocates actively involving detectorists in working alongside archaeologists. He is also adamant that additional rules and regulations aimed at the hobbyists will only serve to prevent co-operation.

The contribution of metal detecting to research is assessed and shown to be especially important in the field of numismatics, where so much has changed as a result of metal detecting that the accuracy of some books written before 1975 must now be called into question. The Cumbrian Cumwhitton Norse Burial, discovered by a detectorist in 2004, shows that collaboration between archaeologist and metal detector can afforded revolutionary insights into Scandinavian settlements, and the VASLE (Viking and Anglo-Saxon Landscape and Economy) project, established in 2004 to look at the development of settlements, landscape and economy in the early medieval period through the plotting of artefacts, shows that, contrary to what is normally argued, artefacts that have lost their archaeological context can still contribute to an understanding of the development of sites.

The volume concludes with an optimistic piece on the educational value of PAS by Ceinwen Paynton. Having defined the PAS as ‘the largest community archaeology project in England and Wales’, Paynton describes in some detail the scheme’s engagement with young and adult learners, and how it has created learning resources that are teacher-friendly and work well in schools.

To sum up, despite the seemingly random placing of some of the chapters, this book succeeds, through a wealth of cases and voices, in demonstrating that the key to a fruitful future relationship between metal-detector users and archaeologists lies in the recognition of the importance of mutual communication and co-operation.