I don’t know about Ireland, but in Germany ‘treasure hunting’ with a metal detector is prohibited as well. Artifacts residing in the ground are property of the state, unlike in e.g. England where afaIk they belong to the land owner. Additionally, ‘treasure hunting’ destroys the archaeological find situation, as the metal artifacts are digged out usually no proper documentation is done while destroying the placement an organic surrounding artifacts.
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I don’t know about Ireland, but in Germany ‘treasure hunting’ with a metal detector is prohibited as well. Artifacts residing in the ground are property of the state, unlike in e.g. England where afaIk they belong to the land owner. Additionally, ‘treasure hunting’ destroys the archaeological find situation, as the metal artifacts are digged out usually no proper documentation is done while destroying the placement an organic surrounding artifacts.