Crime goes underground

In Sweden, as in many other countries, there is great concern over the threat that plundering may pose to historical remains, and there is widespread interest in this question among those working for the protection of Sweden's cultural environment. It has been noted that metal detectors are commonly employed in the context of illegal excavations (see inter alia Östergren, 1985; Hammarstedt, 1999; Gustafsson, 2000). Since 1991, there has been a general prohibition against the use of metal detectors in Sweden, although it remains legal to buy, sell and own one.

The problems have been most evident on the island of Gotland, where plunderers have also been arrested and sentenced. Otherwise there are few cases where crimes of this kind have been proven. The question then is how extensive is such plundering in Sweden. Andreas Hennius (2004) of the Uppland museum states that, ”We estimate that between 80 and 90 percent of the sites of finds of gold artefacts in Sweden have been searched by plunderers using metal detectors over recent years,” with this figure being based on subsequent investigations conducted at known sites of gold artefact finds. In his licentiate dissertation Leif Häggström concludes that 2.5 percent of the land investigated during the Vittene-project1 had been plundered with the aid of metal detectors (Häggström, 2001). In this case the investigations were not limited merely to the sites of gold and silver finds but instead covered specified areas of land. The two figures do not therefore allow for a comparison.

In Sweden, shipwrecks more than 100 years old are classed as historical remains and are thus protected under the Heritage Conservation Act. In Swedish waters there is a unique wealth of wrecks as a result of the favourable marine conditions, which serve to conserve these wrecks. Besides a small number of marine archaeologists it is sport divers who have the best knowledge of the shipwrecks. Many divers have an active interested in the preservation of these wrecks but there are also divers who remove souvenirs and trophies from such sites. The well-preserved wrecks are viewed as a marine world heritage since it is not only Swedish vessels that have foundered and been preserved in our waters.

In addition to plundering and souvenir hunting there are other offences related to historical remains. These involve various kinds of damage which may, for example, occur in connection with farming and forestry and other forms of land use. Unlike plundering, little attention is focused on offences involving damage of this kind. For this reason there is a pressing need to investigate the true extent of this particular type of cultural heritage crime.

The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande rådet - Brå) conducted a comprehensive study (Cultural Heritage Crime – The Nordic Dimension, Brå 2006:2) to map cultural heritage crime in the Nordic countries. The study concluded that further research was necessary to shed light on this type of crime, and not least offences involving historical remains.