Our latest article was recently published in the international journal World Archaeology.

‘I have better stuff at home’: treasure hunting and private collecting of World War II artefacts in Finnish Lapland is written by Vesa-Pekka Herva, Eerika Koskinen-Koivisto and Suzie Thomas, and has the following abstract:

Almost all archaeologists encounter collectors of different kinds of artefacts at some point in their career, whether it is the private collectors of financially valuable antiquities or ‘amateur archaeologists’ who have amassed personal collections of local finds. In our research into the material legacy of the German presence in northern Finland during World War II, we have encountered both artefact hunters (primarily but not exclusively metal detecting enthusiasts) and artefact collectors (sometimes the same people) with a specific interest in military remains from this location and period. In this article, we explore these alternative perspectives on collecting, and frame them within the context of treasure hunters, militaria collectors and other history hobbyists, and their relationship to the ‘official’ heritage managers and curators.

The article forms part of a special issue on archaeologists and collectors, which will be published in full later in the year.

For more information about this article and other publications, contact the project team.