Old treasures (and trash) are beeping under the soil

Metal detectors find both coins and bottle caps

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By Esa Juntunen
     
      Beeeepp. Beeep. Beep. Bep. Piiii...
      Now, get your shovel, dig a hole, and take a look at the soil!
      Bugger! It is a button. Well, at least it is not another bloody bottle cap.
      ”99.9 per cent of all finds are beer-bottle caps - not gold rings, I'm afraid”, laments Pauli Ukkonen in a park in Helsinki’s Pitäjänmäki district.
     
One has to admit that this is a strange spectacle.
      Three machinery assemblers are sweeping the ground with metal detectors which say beep-beep.
      ”Every time someone comes to ask what I am doing. Once I was out beeping for eight hours, seven of which I spent on answering their blooming questions”, Ukkonen notes.
      The answers can be found in Mika Lindén’s pocket: centuries-old kopeks, cartridge cases, and other patinated metal items.
      Workmates Ukkonen, Lindén, and Matti Kiiskinen go looking for all the things that earlier generations have dropped in the soil in the Greater Helsinki area.
     
The trio belongs to the ”ABB Pitäjänmäki Beepers”, which is the country’s only treasure hunting club in a workplace - as far as is known. They examine maps in order to find out where people used to live before and go there to inspect the grass under their feet.
      ”On the spot you will have to figure out where you would have built your house and prepared your field, if you had lived there in the old times”, Lindén advises.
      He made headlines recently, after having unearthed an old pipe-axe in the suburb of Vuosaari. The axe was estimated to be up to 1,500 years old.
      When Lindén found the axe, he thought that once again he had probably hit a ”hostile" - an old-fashioned tear-off cap from a beer bottle. Nevertheless, he took the trouble to shovel and dig until he saw the hidden object.
     
Then he let out an elated ”Oh-HOH”. It is a feeling that every beeper would like to experience.
      ”It is the joy of the chase and the discovery, but at the same time, one learns more about history”, Ukkonen says.
      Nevertheless, one does not comb the ground in order to make a fortune. For valuable finds, the state gives the finder either a small reward or a certificate of honour.
      The National Board of Antiquities is to assess the quality of Lindén’s pipe-axe discovery soon.
      ”It would help Finland’s historical research, if treasure hunters were given a decent compensation”, the finder suggests.
      At present, super finds may end up in the collections of antiquity collectors. In comparison, in Great Britain, the hobby could even make a treasure hunter rich.
     
For a beeper, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow could be the booty of the infamous Nurmijärvi robbers.
      The Nurmijärvi-based gang terrorised the province of Uusimaa two centuries ago, but the treasures they stole have never been found.
      Both the legend and the entire hobby itself contain much of the romance of adventure films.
      Real life is different, Ukkola points out.
      ”Sometimes I have been pushing a pram with one hand, beeping with the other”, he adds.
     
     
FACTFILE: All items that are more than 100 years old belong to the state
     
In Finland, everyone may search metals from the soil, provided that they have the landowner’s permission.
     
Ancient finds which can be expected to be at least 100 years old belong to the state. The National Board of Antiquities or the provincial museum is to be informed of all antiquities unearthed. Amateur searchers notify the authorities of roughly 100 finds every year.
     
The museum estimates whether it wants to redeem the object in question. If the object is redeemed, a reasonable compensation will be paid to the finder. In general, such a compensation has been between EUR 20 and EUR 200.
     
It is also possible to give the object to the state without compensation, in which case the finder will be given a certificate of honour.
     
The number of treasure hunters is not known, but their online forum aarremaanalla.com has more than 1100 registered users.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.11.2011


Links:
  An image of a bronze pipe-axe head on the National Board of Antiquities site
  National Board of Antiquities
  The aarremaanalla.com online discussion forum

ESA JUNTUNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
esa.juntunen@hs.fi