22nd March 2014, 06:19 PM
Joe11 Wrote:Hello all, I'm a new-ish detectorist as well and I've learned a lot from reading this thread.
In my view, I'd say that there are many dectectorists up and down the country who would jump at the opportunity to work with archaeologists and help out in any way they can. There are loads of detectorists in total despair because permissions are so difficult to get, regular club digs are many miles away and local md-ing clubs are all closed-membership. It's no fun to have a £1,200 machine gathering dust.
Go out there and knock on some farmers / landowners doors. You'll get a lot of refusals for sure, but eventually someone will say yes. I've never been in a club but still managed to get a lot of land to search.
Most contractors require that every person on site has a CSCS card, which is probably why most Archaeology companies won't use MD ing volunteers.