Magnet Fishing Found a Viking Sword! But There’s a Catch…

Have you heard of magnet fishing? It's becoming really popular in the UK because our river and canal network is absolutely full of rubbish, I mean, er, treasure! People have started throwing powerful magnets into rivers and canals and pulling out all sorts, from medals and tin cans to bicycles, bombs, and even guns!
But one magnet fisherman in Oxfordshire has dredged up something very interesting to us: a Viking Age sword! It's been authenticated, and is now in a museum in nearby Witney.
But is this really the best way to get artefacts out of our rivers? Could we be doing damage to archaeology and to the remains of our past by using magnet fishing? The Canal and River Trust and the British Museum certainly seem to think so, and to be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about it yet either.
Let's have a look at this impressive find anyway, and see if this, like metal detectors (after all who doesn't love Detectorists!) can become a really cool and useful addition to the archaeologist's arsenal!
Now I wonder if they'd help me find my change down the sofa...
All sword photos courtesy of Trevor Penny unless otherwise stated.
Mini disclaimer: Jimmy genuinely doesn't know how he feels about the whole activity of magnet fishing yet, but is sure everyone involved in this case was doing their best to play fair and was being honest and cool throughout! No judgement here!
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Some interesting reading:
www.bajrfed.co.uk/bajrpress/hi...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...
canalrivertrust.org.uk/suppor...

[@TheWelshViking]

I feel like I need to clarify something here after some really weird comments. Guys. Archaeologists don’t keep the artefacts. They generally don’t sell them. The idea that they “steal history for the elite” is completely bonkers. People who go around stealing artefacts that the public have a right to see and own, and then hoard them for themselves or sell them to wealthy collectors? Yes. That is theft, elitism, and selfishness that robs the public of its heritage. People actually conserving artefacts, recording their context for further research, publishing reports and findings, and putting them in publicly accessible museums, libraries, and archives where *anyone* can see them and use them for research and interest, very often for free? No. Not stealing. Not for the elite. If you want artefacts to be more accessible, go to finds.org.uk or your local museum and get their visitor numbers up.

[@thebratqueen]

I can't wrap my brain around the idea of finding something of historic significance and... keeping it. Like what does it serve to have a Viking sword that you hang up in your living room and only your friends and family get to admire? You'd think it'd be much cooler to be able to point at a Museum and say you contributed to something on display that anyone could see.

[@teucer915]

I think this may be partly the Americans in your viewership generalizing what's true here to other places. We live on stolen land. You don't. We therefore have a long history of archaeologists taking stuff and putting it in museums for all to see, while not appreciating that the descendants of the people who made and were buried with the stuff don't always consent to that - whereas your archeologists *are* the descendants. Our museums are busy decolonizing their collections by removing ancestral remains from display. Yours... Well, return the got dang Parthenon marbles and the Benin bronzes and so forth, but when it comes to native British artifacts that's not something you have any reason to apologize for. We are facing very different issues, and it's right to come to different answers.

[@SkylerLinux]

Imma be honest, Women in a Pond Distributing swords as a form of governance is looking pretty good right about now

[@CCoburn3]

It certainly couldn't be any worse than what we've got.

[@jimmyfaulkner5746]

I'd take whoever the watery bint choose

[@beagleissleeping5359]

1) my neighbor had an encounter with a metal detectorist wandering through her backyard. When asked what he was doing, the response was, "Just looking for stuff." Her response was, "Well if you find anything it belongs to me, so get off my property before I call the cops." 2) Several years ago another incident occurred when someone came across a group digging up a Native American burial mound on their property. They claimed, "We have permission to be here." After being informed that the county sheriff's office was being called, they left without further protest. The proper tribal authorities were contacted and the burial was moved elsewhere to (hopefully) prevent another similar incident. Don't just go digging up stuff, y'all 😊

[@TheSaneHatter]

Some of these detectorists and grave robbers seems to be a uniquely demented class of criminals with their own strange way of thinking, like squatters or dumpster divers.

[@crow-jane]

@@TheSaneHatterDumpster diving is (philosophically, at least) an idea I can get behind. It harms no one except potentially the diver, and actively diverts waste from the landfill or incinerator.

[@badoing7390]

Thanks America but we'll take it from here.

[@RockyPeroxide]

@@TheSaneHatter the idea behind squatting is to re-use abandoned office apartments or other abandoned buildings, and in my country there used to be a rule that if a building is abandoned for more than a year and someone made it their home, they could live there. I don't know the specifics around the law we had, but I do agree with the spirit... But yeah, this is the internet, no use in arguing about opinions & I see your point. This is a nice corner of the internet, so I'll wish you a good day, evening, or night, depending on the time of day when you read this.

[@steveschnetzler5471]

Every year, when dredging the Rhine here in Cologne, they come up with a 500Lb bomb, maybe two. I have never seen a magnet fisher here.

[@user-gl5dq2dg1j]

I saw a recent article, possibly written by ai, that claimed that a magnet fisherman and his buddies had found a bazooka round in a river in Massachusetts. A bazooka shell that weighed 500 lbs. I don't doubt them finding a round of some kind but a bazooka was carried by infantry men so it needed to be carried by 1 man who would likely be carrying several rounds and his food and water for a few days and maybe a rifle. 5 inch naval round used by the US navy were about 55 lbs and were about the heaviest rounds that a single man could chuck around - and I do mean chuck. The bags of powder for 16 inch shells weighed around 80 lbs and were passed (with 4-6 bags used per every shell fired), not chucked around. For the rest of the world 2.2 lbs to every Kg.

[@dressdeveloper]

As far as I know magnet fishing is completely forbidden in Germany for exactly that reason. Especially around cologne that would be a terrible idea.

[@howardrisby9621]

Coincidentally (or not!!), no magnet (or indeed, any other) fishing takes place within "a certain exclusion zone" off Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey, Kent) .... for much the same reasons.

[@Locahaskatexu]

@@dressdeveloper Magnet fishing is probably also forbidden around Bremen, Hamburg and Dresden I'd wager? And it would be a colossal bad idea to do it anyway for probably much the same reason?

[@dressdeveloper]

@@Locahaskatexu would definitely be a bad idea. But as far as I know, you are not allowed to magnet fish anywhere in Germany. But I’m not an expert for that, take this with a nice pinch of salt. 🙂

[@darriendastar3941]

The obvious answer would be to have magnet fishers licensed in the same way mudlarks are. There's a KZbin channel called Si_Finds run by a guy who mudlarks mostly on the Thames. He regularly works with the London Museum and his love - and knowledge - of history and his finds shines out of every video. It's a hobby, but he's passionate about doing it right. The benefit of organised and considered magnet fishing is that it clers a lot of crap out of canals and rivers. The CRT is good, but it had very little money. Magnet fishers can get a lot of rubbish and metallic pollution out of the waterway that would otherwise just stay there accumalating and causing a threat to transport and - potentially - life. Long story short: regulate - don't ban.

[@QueenMegaera]

In the town where I live there's a small group that does magnet fishing from a raft in the river. I'm sure they wish for cool stuff to turn up, but they also remove a LOT of trash. The trash goes to its proper place, any historical artifacts go to the museum, other fun stuff might be theirs to keep if no original owner turns up. These guys don't drag stuff across the bottom, though (because raft!) and they have a cooperation with the city council. When they work, small crowds usually form along the riverside to see what turns up. Usually it's rusty bicycles. Since they're always a little group and have proper equipment and life wests, I imagine the risks are low. Also it's a shallow river and a long wire for the magnet, so at worst they lose the magnet, I think?

[@paulaunger3061]

This sounds really good! I’d never heard of magnet fishing before reading about the Cherwell find in the news, but my first thought was, what’s it doing to the ecology of the river?!

[@jleer6178]

Considering you've all been living right on top of your archeology for umpteen thousand years, its surprising more sites haven't been obliterated . Could you go in to more depth on how the PAS works and how they help prevent site destruction and robbing?

[@TheWelshViking]

There’s an idea! Thanks! I’ll get in touch with them and see if they’ve got anyone to have a word with me! 😄

[@beth12svist]

​@@TheWelshViking That would be great if that did happen!

[@SaszaDerRoyt]

​@@TheWelshVikingthe PAS are also a really valuable resource for reenactors looking for bits of kit to make replicas of, it'd be very cool to get a better idea of how it all works!

[@angelcollina]

I heartily second this idea!

[@moxiebombshell]

I only know what I've heard on Time Team from Helen Geake. I'd love to know more!

[@JRVan-ez4yi]

As an American I have to say maybe strange women lying in ponds distributing swords IS a basis for a system of government, how worse can it be to what we have now?.

[@brianpeck4035]

You don't know how good we have it.

[@Odontecete]

How freaking cool! I don't have any skin in the magnet fishing debate...I've never done it, but used to SCUBA dive for aluminum cans in our local river (that ppl float down in the summer). We'd cash them in to fund our better dive trips. More often than not, we found sunglasses, watches, wallets (returned if the ID's were still there, turned into the police if they weren't), coins, bills, glass bottles (not allowed on the river) but mostly we found trash. LOTS of trash. So from the perspective of that, if the intention is to just "go find stuff" and toss the trash back - yea...no. Be responsible and pick up the trash too. If I had ever come across a gun or hand grenade or even unexploded ordinance I literally would have jumped out of the water and never gone back in until the bomb squad cleared the area. Never found anything of historical value but if I had, I would have taken it to the museum or turned it into the police. As long as there is respect for the history and for any incredible finds and sharing those finds if found I honestly don't have a problem with it as long as it is done safely.

[@angelcollina]

Oh man, when I lived in Montana people who floated the Clark Fork in the summer would lose all sorts of things in the river!

[@MonkeyWhoWouldBeKing]

iirc, the Galloway Hoard prevented a night raid by rogue detectorists... they couldn't leave anyone there overnight, so the farmer moved his bull in from the next field XD

[@TheWelshViking]

They got the lot out in an evening as the light faded by the torches of mobile phones, I’m told!

[@okgibberish6771]

A guard bull. That sounds pretty terrifying to me!

[@MonkeyWhoWouldBeKing]

@@TheWelshViking hmmm, will check with the friend who told me - maybe it's another find im thinking of

[@CapriUni]

@@TheWelshVikingThat sounds pretty rad, too, tbh.

[@crow1066]

Andy, got the call at the office that something had come up, just at the moment they were in the midst of an audit in the offices. It was already all hands to the pumps...There was some discussion as who was available to take this one as it was pretty pressing and he could only get away around noon. He didn't have his car with him either and had to manage it all via his motorbike and a toolbox of his digging toys. And during the excavation, the finds just kept coming and coming...not what was expected at all from the initial contact. It was touch and go forcing them to wonder what to do if it carried on into the night.

[@SAOS451316]

I've done some magnet fishing. Near where I used to live was a canal that was just full of junk and the city didn't have the money to dredge it so they didn't mind people helping out a bit. You had to get a certificate from a safety course that was mostly about knots, line management, dangerous bits of the canal, what to do with certain items, etc. It was only 300 years old so there wasn't much for archaeology but there were plenty of interesting objects that we gave to the local museum! Someone else found a pistol but that and tetanus were the only real dangers in the water. Never ever tie the line to yourself, oh my goodness is that father and son story tragic. The dipping method does the least damage to the artifacts and wildlife, but the area to fish from is obviously limited unless you have a boat.

[@thehorriblebright]

I spent the later part of my childhood, from age 10 on the Swedish island of Öland. There it's illegal to even own a metal detector without registering it. This is because Öland is incredibly rich in artifacts.

[@julianshepherd2038]

I put a mattock through an electric cable to a house once. Pretty blue flash and i was glad I had a wood shaft not steel

[@TheWelshViking]

Seen that done before as well! Glad you’re ok!

[@m.maclellan7147]

Here in the USA, they have a service called "Dig Safe" that is meant to prevent such accidents!

[@fayej6591]

You sound like Indiana Jones…”It belongs in a museum!” 😂Also, the descriptor “vertically submerged” in reference to a human being and not an artifact sent shivers down my spine.

[@P-Mouse]

Dr Jones should maybe not giving any lectures on how priceless artifacts should be taken care of

[@Nebulafiend]

Yeah, but let's face it, Indiana Jones would be the one dredging with the biggest magnet of all!

[@RandiPoitras]

I think it would be way cooler to be able to point to an item(s) in a museum and be able to say it's here because I found it and called the right people than keeping it

[@beth12svist]

I think the coolest ever cooperation of metal detectorists with archeologists I ever saw was, paradoxically, finding bottle caps in a Czech meadow, on a TV program. Because the aim was to find the exact site of a semi-famous (immortalised in literature) restaurant/kiosk that stood somewhere there in something like the 1940s. And it was really cool to realise archeology could also do things like that, and that something as mundane-seeming as a 20th century bottle cap may still have a bit of a story behind it.

[@archaeogremlin]

Another archaeologist here to confirm that metal detectors, magnet fishing, and any other tools commonly used by looters give me the willies. (As does the name Heinrich Schliemann.) I work in North America, where most magnetic artifacts are much newer than they are on your side of the pond, so I unfortunately don't have much to say about how to bring metal fishing into archaeological practice. Best I can do is recommend a few open source articles by Dr. Bonnie Pitblado on the subject of archaeologist/collector collaboration

[@m.maclellan7147]

Any good KZbin channels to follow ? Also from USA.

[@jillscott4029]

I've never thought of it as a problem in America. Just a way of getting trash out of the river and maybe finding something with some scrap value or something more recently lost that someone would want back. As long as you don't do it in hazardous locations or where there is underwater infrastructure.

[@m.maclellan7147]

@jillscott4029 coincidentally saw an item in a Boston newspaper of magnet fishing folks pulled up two live "ordinances" and one 'dud' ordinance from the Charles River !

[@benjaminmack7567]

Living in a boat on occasion I've had to fish around with a magnet for stuff I've dropped in. Generally you know the approximate area it fell in so there's less dredging!

[@jakubfabisiak9810]

A sword was found recently in Poland, in Włocławek, when working to deepen the port canal - the scoop basically threw it onto a barge, and the owner of the company doing the work noticed it. Pretty cool sword, too.

[@neromir9898]

Never heard of magnet fishing, though I see the appeal...there's a similar issue with people collecting old books and even manuscripts and trying to restore them with practices not supported by current research. It's technically not illegal (depending on the country), but it makes me so sad when such items with so much value for researchers are privately owned, not accessible to researchers and not even catalogued. There could be so much out there that we don't even know about!

[@susanohnhaus611]

when I think of Bill Gates buying the Leonardo Da Vinci notebooks (Leicester codex) I get ill

[@marcusdire8057]

+1 "Like" for those pond ladies!

[@TheKrispyfort]

IF I were to find a potential archeological find, I would be photo-documenting and taking all the relevant notes I could think of for handover notes to the qualified research group. IF I were to find a Viking Age sword in any of the nearby waterways history as we consider it would need to be re-examined

[@migmig42]

Do that make the finder the ruler of all England?

[@ChauncyFatsack]

they have to pull from a stone not a river

[@michellebyrom6551]

Did the Lady of the Lake throw it at them? And was her aim to kill or to have the.sword caught?

[@REDACTED_shenanigans]

Monarchic claims only come from lake swords, not river swords

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

I solemnly promise that I shall do my best to avoid becoming vertically submerged in a canal. I generally stay away from our canals and anything that lives in them because ick.

[@patpierce4854]

My luck would be….I’d be the person who fished up a hand grenade…..

[@mosherlad]

Just remove pin and count to 3…😂

[@m.maclellan7147]

Insert "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" sketch here. (Never enough Pyrhon !)

[@azteclady]

Always here for hearing about doing things the right way (and doing the right thing)

[@nailguncrouch1017]

Well I learned something, never even heard of magnet fishing before.

[@LetGaiaLive]

How weird; it was just yesterday lunchtime that a bloke at work was telling me about magnet fishing (which I had never heard of), and I was telling him about the show Detectorists….😳😳😳

[@TheWelshViking]

Spooky!

[@pacman1386]

Must resist monty python joke! Must.... resist..... Ni!

[@patpierce4854]

Don’t forget the shrubbery! Or the herring!

[@pacman1386]

@@patpierce4854 get two and have a lovely little path running down the middle!

[@jaded9087]

Has to be done! Sorry but not sorry... lol King Ohhh....very nice...I didn't vote for you You don't vote for the king. How'd you get to be king anyway? The lady of the lake, her arm clad in the finest samite, thrust forth Excalibur from the bosom of the water thereby declaring by devine right that, I, Arthur should be your king. Listen, women laying around in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power is derived by a mandate from the masses not by some farsical aquatic ceremony. You can't run around calling yourself king just because some wattery tart tossed a simitar at you.....Look, If I walked around calling myself Emperor because some moistened wench threw a sword at me the'd lock me up and throw away the key.... SHUT UP....SHUT UP Oh....now we see the violence inheret in the system COME SEE THE VIOLENCE INHERET IN THE SYSTEM` HELP HELP I'M BEING REPRESSED! SHUT UP SHUT UP

[@rainydaylady6596]

​@@jaded9087Well done! 😂🤣😂🖖💕

[@pacman1386]

@@jaded9087 fantastic!

[@gypsydonovan]

"Not the blanket museum" important clarification 😆

[@TheWelshViking]

I live to serve!

[@Bildgesmythe]

I'd like to see both

[@lucie4185]

It will probably end up in the Ashmolean.

[@jackiejames4551]

Good video, Jimmy. Thanks. I heard about that sword from news cast, and to be honest, i thought it had to be a fake. It looked too good to be real. I'm glad I was wrong and that the sword is in the proper hands.

[@CapriUni]

I don't think I will watch magnet fishing on KZbin. I don't want to feed the algorithm of those who post those videos fishing for popularity & clout.

[@beth12svist]

You could watch the Honest Guide guys from Prague's one magnet-fishing video if you wanted to get an idea. They're definitely also fishing for popularity and clout with most of their videos, but they use it for good by also relentlessly exposing scammers.

[@cabbagenut]

omg I, too, love Jimmy's new haircut

[@bertieschitz-peas429]

Grappling hook an rope is the best if you collect shopping trollies.

[@Trassel242]

I may be a bit biased here, but I hate this behaviour, it makes any random person think “I bet I’ll find some cool treasure!” and then they go out and absolutely wreck archaeological sites that would have been (relatively) intact if they hadn’t gone there to dig around for shiny things. I’m a total layman and yet I love archaeology and history enough to not bother with metal detectors and looting and so on. I know that I’ll damage a site, because I don’t know how to do any of that stuff properly. That’s why I leave it to the people who genuinely know what they’re doing instead. It’s just that simple, leave it alone and let the professionals do what they know best. If you wouldn’t let some random guy with a hammer and a pair of pliers handle your dentistry, don’t do the equivalent of this about historical artefacts and sites.

[@ulrike9978]

As someone who *is* a professional archaeologist: that's exactly it. (Proper use of detectors excluded, of course. There are ways to do it that are fine, but they involve working with archaeologists)

[@m.maclellan7147]

Bravo for that analogy!

[@CleoHarperReturns]

Jimmy, you bilingual babe! Always with the wise advice. I'll be buying some wooded acreage soon in the Great Lakes region, and while I had no intention of magnet fishing I was thinking of metal detecting in the woods. As far as metal artifacts go, my country's history is not nearly as old as yours, but it just occurred to me by digging up old-ish metal I could be disturbing non-metal artifacts from much older time periods. Not something I'd like to have on my conscious at all. I think a less invasive survey of my property would be better, and to call in proper authorities (Native American Affairs, etc) if I found anything. After that, I could go looking for old cans if I still wanted. You're always inspiring more intelligent thought. At least in this girl. Thanks for that.🙂

[@annaradke6701]

Depending on where in the Great Lakes region, you might also get a LOT of iron rocks. Lake Superior "iron ranges" are called that for a reason! (Geologist & 'Sconnie, here) Native copper artifacts are also a possibility, there was quite a lot of trade in copper well before Europeans arrived.

[@CleoHarperReturns]

@@annaradke6701 Hey, 'Sconnie! Michigander (🙄) here, though I haven't been called that for decades. You're totally right of course, especially about the copper. The entire state is rich in several types of metal (and not surprisingly, salt). I have a very odd question for you since you're in the region, if you don't mind: My aged mother is dead set on moving back to Michigan but I've been doing some research and I've found that it's become the Meth Mitten...which doesn't emote safety to me. I've been trying to sell her on neighboring states bordering Superior but as I haven't lived there myself I don't really have a lot of tools at my fingertips. My question is, what are some amazing things about Wisconsin that could possibly make her look that way? I find it to be an equally beautiful state and honestly, with more progressive politics than Michigan. But it's not enough to sway her. Have you got any good insider knowledge?

[@annaradke6701]

@@CleoHarperReturnsWell, I think I'd wait on the progressive politics bit until we see what the next election holds, but here's hoping! And...I can't honestly say we don't have our own rural drug issues, unfortunately. But the scenery is pretty damn good, if I do say so myself, especially the Door Peninsula and the southwestern Driftless region (my stomping grounds). Plus, of course, all the cheese you can find. :) I lived a couple summers in Madison & enjoyed the farmers' market, etc. along with the other amenities of a university town, if that would be intriguing--great music, great hospitals, and the like. La Crosse is similar, if smaller, with a Mayo Clinic hospital & plenty of great outdoor recreation opportunities. I've heard good things, too, from people who actually live in the Milwaukee area, although the traffic is awful. (But then, so are many other places...) And if she's a bit of a 70s flower-child type, there's Viroqua.

[@CleoHarperReturns]

@@annaradke6701 Funnily enough you've mentioned all the areas I've looked into, plus a few more. Thank you so much! You've given me fresh directions in which to location hunt. This has been incredibly helpful -- thanks again! So much love for Jimmy's community.❤

[@CleoHarperReturns]

Just noticed I misspelled "conscience." I'll leave it unedited for everyone to throw darts at, if desired.😆

[@lyndseykindred8297]

Lol for the calls to action, very gracefully done😊. Fab video as always.xx

[@polkadot8788]

Saw the title and instantly thought of the monty python quote 😂

[@holdyerblobsaloft]

I've done magnet fishing in this sound that goes through our small town and only pulled up a bicycle and two shopping trolleys. There's probably no risk of ancient artifacts since it's been dredged every few decades or so, and it was drained in the 1930's to reinforce the edges with concrete. I mostly do it to remove the bikes and carts to make it safer for boating.

[@cypriennezed5640]

If I found a cool Viking-age sword in a river, I assume I'd have to visit it every day, so it never for one second thinks I don't love it. ❤ ETA: AAAHHHH ICP REFERENCE

[@dorteweber3682]

When you think of the history or archeology, thye message is often that those who went before us caused a lot of damage out of sheer ignorance and because they didnt have the technology we have now, so maybe leave some bits of archeology for future generations that may be able to do better things with it.

[@ladyliberty417]

So much historical objects to be found in Britain- it’s amazing but there have to be rules! Have respect for your culture and cooperate with archeologists IMHO, thanks Jimmy ❣️

[@anastasiabaima2424]

I live near some coastal islands and there are quite a few people who metal detect along the beach. For the most part they can assist in getting trash of a metal nature out of sand which is favorable, but it can be so difficult to be able to see what impact your activity may have. as an outdoor enthusiast. Embracing "Leave No Trace Behind." has been the closest help. It would be nice to see maybe more public events where you could help with a river/canal cleanup where someone could speak about what is found?

[@orionova]

I'm studying archaeology now, and I really don't like magnet fishing or metal detectoring without permission. Please, work with us, not against us.

[@charleston1789]

Ignore the troll 😊

[@TheWelshViking]

Indeed. Better to all play nicely together than for people to end up nicked

[@AmAppleton]

Re making it safer for the people doing it - I'd've thought wearing life vests and maybe tethering on to something solid

[@erian3507]

If they were vertically submerged it almost sounds like they tied the rope to themselves, which is something to definitely avoid...

[@roxiepoe9586]

My tiny school library was given(in 1978) a half of a pickup truck load of books from somebody's estate. I helped sort them. One of the books was Burton's "Book of the Sword" which set my imagination on a trek that is still giving me great pleasure.

[@Rreinholdt]

Thank you for this Jimmy. I appreciate you!

[@astreaward6651]

As an American, my ever-political brain turned immediately to a certain former US President who claimed that magnets don't work if they get wet and I got annoyed/enraged/baffled all over again. Anyway... I suppose humanity will always have people who go off exploring with no thought toward the potential harm they might (inadvertently or directly) cause. We're probably not going to be able to do much more than play "Whack-A-Mole" with each new, negative consequence.

[@nataliestanchevski4628]

Damn Jimmy, I didn't have anything of value to comment so I was going to ask how magnets work.😂

[@iokheaira]

The use of amateur metal detectorists in archaeology has been studied in Finland! I think here the small circles and lower chance of finding treasure help (woo ancient poverty 😂) tip the scales more towards reporting for clout vs. theft, and the Finnish Heritage Agency does outreach and education and it has had an online reporting page for finds for several years already, but you know, humans are involved so it's not perfect. But it has expanded our understanding of the spread of Iron Age habitation because the Agency just doesn't have the resources for surveys of that much land and forest! Well, they don't have the resources to conserve all these new finds either, let alone do proper digs at the findspots, but such is life. (That is a very nice sword indeed - wonder if it's one of the kinds with an inscription on the blade? A brief Google suggests that it would be unusual for a type M, but not completely without precedent.)

[@KyoSamourai]

The only way metal detectorism can be useful to archaeologists would be to associate amateur detectorists to supervised prospection programs. Like some institution would say "ok, there is a list of very specific parcels you can prospect with this very specific protocol" (like either just recording the gps coordinate of every bips, or even sometimes digging some of the things and then gps locate them...). That's the only way. Here in France metal detecting is absolutely illegal without a permit, and the authorities never deliver permits. Why ? because museums don't need any more artifacts, we have thousands of them collecting dust in museum collections, they're not even shown to public because the displays are already full... 99% of artifacts only serve one purpose : they represent data, data which is only complete when digged up with all the context (stratigraphy, surrounding objects including of course non-metal objects, sometimes textile remains stuck in corosion that amateurs can't possibly examin properly...). When you dig up a bronze age sword, who cares about the objet in itself ? the poorly preserved skeleton which has been smashed by your indelicate shovelling contained valuable informations which will be lost forever but hey... cool sword eh ? and if one day we end up professionnaly digging the metal deprived bronze age necropolis there... well many objects will have been, at worst lost forever, at best poorly recorded and impossible to assign to their original grave, in their original position...

[@m.maclellan7147]

I think folks that like history should watch a documentary about an actual dig. Seeing folks laying in the hot sun, with tiny brushes and dental tools and talking about the age of the dig (from soil samples, depth, etc.) is just fascinating & I think gives an appreciation for the absolute determination, patience & scientific scrutiny of these professionals! It almost makes me weep to think of folks just yoinking random stuff with magnets. Maybe guilty magnet bandits & metal detector folks doing it illegally should be forced to work at a dig for 6 months, unpaid. Might wake them up. (But then again, they might just steal more stuff!?) Human nature- sigh.

[@anthonyhayes1267]

Peterson type Ms don't get enough love

[@Trassel242]

Drowning is fast and silent, which is why it’s so deadly. When you’re drowning, you can’t scream for help. If you plan on doing stuff involving water, learn how to swim and basic CPR. You may think you won’t need that knowledge, but it’s better to know and not need it than to need it but not know it, right?

[@helenjohannesman9165]

This is something I have never thought about! I don't do any metal detecting or magnet fishing, but I do know that often the remains of shipwrecks are left underwater and are counted as historical sites, especially the ones far out in the sea/ or get dragged around by the tides. In the US, we also have wrecked ships that resurface on land and are left alone as a sort of experiment to see how they age/change as they get moved by the water. Tagged and recorded by the proper authorities of course! I attended a lecture on some local (to me) shipwrecks a year ago. It was fascinating to see how the wrecks were being reclaimed by the environment. I imagine magnet fishing near a wreckage like that would be incredibly dangerous and damaging to the site. The lecture was given by two professional scuba divers who talked about getting permission to dive for the wrecks, and to photograph them for posterity.

[@inregionecaecorum]

I once dropped a pick into my local river and used a magnet to recover it. I severely doubt that there are any swords of any description let alone Viking swords there.

[@howardrisby9621]

Just for the record, the majority of the UK's narrow beam canals are a mere 3ft (914mm) deep*, but what with accumulated gunge, weeds etc. a very real drowning risk for the unwary or foolhardy. Locks can, of course, be MUCH deeper** and potentially bl**dy dangerous in or our of water, so I'll second Jimmy's excellent advise. *sections like the summit level of the Wey & Arun double this to 6ft, due to being designed to act as their own reservoirs. **the deepest canal lock in the UK is Tuel Lane on the Rochdale Canal. At 19'6" it replaced two earlier locks when the canal was restored back in the 1990s

[@catherinejustcatherine1778]

Thanks so much Jimmy, as always

[@cennethadameveson3715]

I feel magnet fishing found artifacts are finds from outside normal archeology. I not sure a random piece of riverned would lure a five week excavation. Also there are eight viking stamps been issued by the royal mail. Any chance of a dive into there significance or lack of, in Norse/viking influence in the UK?

[@Krucek6666]

Always good to have another.

[@charlymicky1722]

Where I live you can buy the magnets for magnet fishing in the supermarket and it seems to be a popular pasttime in summer. The chances of finding archeological relevant stuff is relatively slim here, fishing baits or hand grenades are more likely.

[@robintheparttimesewer6798]

I'm surprised that people aren't aware of the laws. My son wanted to metal detect around here but once he checked discovered a ridiculous number of reasons not too. I can't believe the number of rules our city has about the river. Can't even launch a boat! It's really not the same in North America or at least less of a chance of finding WWII ordnance! Most of what I've seen in KZbin is city magnet fishing so no real old finds

[@DawnOldham]

I found this so interesting. I had no idea this was a thing. I'm glad you've possibly saved some teens from getting hurt! (As well as saving the potential historic items!)

[@tiffanytomasino335]

I'm caught up! I had not heard of magnet fishing before this but I'm not surprised by it. At least this last guy didn't break the sword. Thanks, Jimmy.

[@traccas01]

Good video. True words, well spoken. Keep up the good work.

[@SSRT_JubyDuby8742]

Magnets Jimmy are magic from the days of yore, a lodestone, 😆. A wonderful post mate, gg's 👊. Like deployed 👍

[@cupboard_raider]

I'd be worries about pulling up some unexploded ordinance if I were magnet fishing in Europe. I knew an elderly gentleman that went digging in a field once in his youth, who accidentally hit an unexploded tank shell. It blinded him and killed his friends. Digging or dredging willy-nilly is quite dangerous

[@Rozewolf]

I'm always a bit amazed at how much archaeology has changed over time. Metal detecting, and magnet fishing are just another iteration of people finding/hunting things, and having to follow the rules. Once it was the 'sport' of rich gentlemen. If a museum was lucky, they might get some of the pieces. It became more of a business, and then an academic pursuit. I remember in the 1960's, my parents had a friend who was a pinto bean farmer in Southern Colorado. He called them up one day to see if they wanted to come down over the weekend to clear out the mess in his newest bean field. They and friends went down. It was an Anazazi site. Most of the pots went to a museum eventually with the help of my aunt and uncle who are archaeologists. Now, the world has regulations that protect finds and sites. I think it is a much better way of doing things.

[@davidcheater4239]

nice haircut

[@Trassel242]

Magnet fishing is a bit like dynamite fishing. It used to be acceptable but now it should be left in the past where it, and powdered Egyptian mummy health supplements and many other such things belong.

[@P-Mouse]

i think it should be tolerated, but it has to be easy for people to report finds,

[@JWRogersPS]

Did they find the watery tart the sword belonged to? (Yes, I went there.)

[@RabidJohn]

Archeologists have found so many swords and other artefacts deliberately deposited in water that what's come down to us as the 'Lady in the Lake' probably had some commonly understood meaning more than a millenium ago. But they are normally bent, broken or otherwise put beyond use. The near perfect condition of this sword is very unusual. Makes me wonder if it was lost rather than sacrificed.

[@susanpolastaples9688]

Gee if you remember the Librarian with Noah Wyle, Finn played with Excalibur and the photo of sword brought it to mind. Very interesting this ....hug Byron

[@lydianoack4552]

Wasn't aware of magnet fishing, but metal detectors are a bit of a double-edged sword, really helpful in the hands of an actual archaeologist or a well-trained helper who knows when to stop and call in the find, but many persons who do not know when to stop can have them also. With a magnet, as that just drags the find out of the river, it will probably mess up any bit of context that might be there, and I imagine that's scarce enough in a river, so nah on that.

[@bethwaltz2607]

The thought of pulling an unidentified lump of metal from the murky depths gives me the whim-whams, especially when the "detectorist" is unfamiliar with military ordnance, even more especially -- antique explosive devices. Cannon balls are considered prizes here in the U.S.A., and they are indeed harmless unless dropped on one's foot. However, if one digs or dredges up a "cannon ball" with a button, one should site it carefully apart from traffic and summon the blow-up-this-mine-safely-at-the-UXB-range squad. And, yes, mines of Civil War vintage do still pack a *boom*.

[@thejestingfool]

This is very interesting and such a good conversation to be had. I know in my country metal detecting is illegal around known archaeologically interesting sites or places like that, but not sure if there are regulations for magnet fishing. They say it is very dangerous due to a lot of wartime relics.

[@shallynsimonds5494]

Must not be as common in America, I'm in Florida and I guess we could get pirate artifacts this way but I've never heard of it. Mostly it's diving here but people still try to keep what should be in a museum so that's sad.

[@m.maclellan7147]

Well, considering the crocs/gators in Florida, they probably think they have "earned" their ill gotten games by not being eaten!

[@SavMortem]

Really good and informative. I imagine a lot of people that do this are mostly well meaning or at least consider it harmless and don't understand the concerns and dangers involved. Hopefully this will discourage those people from doing things in this manner.

[@johannageisel5390]

I would love to do magnet fishing and/or mudlarking. I would mostly be after early 20th and late 19th century things, but if I ever found something older, I would promptly report it, of course. The take-away from this video is: Do not drag the magnet. I'd also be a bit concerned that I would find WWII bombs in the local river. But it would also be the best place to search for actual cool shit, because it's more likely to find human artifacts in a big river near an old city than in a little creek in an uninhabited forest.

[@Bjorn_Algiz]

Lovely video. ❤

[@fitandhappy42]

A friend of mine found a small iron ball when beach combing, they took it to their local finds officer and got told it was a cannon ball from the Spanish Armarda, they were allowed to keep it as they’re pretty common. So reporting finds will not only result in you likely being able to keep something (most of us aren’t going to find a hoard) they will give you good information about it too!

[@coreygilles847]

Well…new fear unlocked…I didn’t even realize that there are canals deep enough that a human could be found vertically suspended in them. I have never really been interested in fishing…and I can say I am definitely NOT interested in magnet fishing-ever. 😮

[@KanonBlack13]

Nice haircut! Did you use The Sword™ to do it ala Mulan?

[@loraleitourtillottwiehr2473]

It drives me bonkers when people completely disregard the importance of the context of the things they find! So much of what a find tells us is through it's context. I will never forget the Time Team episode where they excavated a hoax site and methodically disproved the landowner's claims of historical significance using context/stratigraphy. An authentic Viking age sword laying on top of barbed wire, 'ancient' standing stones in pits dug through 20th century plow soil, all kinds of nonsense.

[@catherinerw1]

Just imagining someone being pulled into the Forth and Avon canal by a rogue shopping trolley (or the Water of Leith by one of the Gormleys going for his night-time stroll)... getting visions of those mad shopping trolleys in Reaper Man

[@janetmackinnon3411]

" ...so I done three..."!

[@tadsklallamn8v]

I'd feel a peace of mind knowing a museum had the very fragile artifact I just found

[@teucer915]

I'm in the US where the situation here is about Indigenous artifacts and "you'll probably get to keep it, just report it" absolutely applies - and when it doesn't, well, this is stolen land, and if you keep unreported artifacts you're contributing, directly, to that theft. In the UK you still have a common law offense of "concealment of treasure trove" and I think maybe we ought to bring that one back over here.

[@anniesoernym]

Fresh looking thumbnail and fresh looking Jimmy!

[@j3tztbassman123]

If I were to find a legit Viking age sword in my area, I'd probably expire of heart failure. Then I'd have to rewrite some history books, as I'm on the new side of the pond.

[@Rallarberg]

Speaking of viking age swords: I've lived in/near Trondheim for nearly 40 years, and just today I visited the bronze and iron age exhibition for the first time, with dozens and dozens of weapons, even more arrow and spear heads, etc, at the local Uni's museum. I have no idea how long this exhibition has been around, but some time later this year they are opening an entirely new viking age specific exhibit. :) Today, I also got to meet the dude they found in a well at the ruins of King Sverre's castle where the open air museum now lies, where I used to work. :) As a kid, it was always about the exhibition of stuffed animals from all over the world, some of which are well over 100 years old! But happy to see they have started with more seasonal exhibits as well, as well as expanding the more permanent ones. :D As a sideways note to how I'd feel if I found something like this: As a kid, we lived next to this folk high school that used to be the offices of the local Germans during WW2. Behind the school, and right next to our driveway, there was a 'stabbur' (log starage house) that had been there since forever. Some friends and I snuck inside, and found some German combat gear (nothing with gunpowder or anything else that could go boom), including a pristine looking helmet, among all sorts of crates and rubble that had been dumped there over the decades. Dumb as we were, we played around with it just outside, and were caught by one of the teachers of the school. He demanded we handed it over so he could give it to the principle, "or else". Off course we handed it over, we weren't _that_ dumb. A few years later, I ran into this principle, and I brought up the gear that we found, he had never received it from the teacher that caught us... :(

[@helenahsson1697]

This made me remember the swedish movie "Den ofrivillige golfaren" from 1991 and the people living next to the golf course hiding loads of artefacts in and around their home. I might misremember but I think they've got a runestone as a garden table 😂

[@SamBeck6090]

Personally if I find something cool like a sward I would want other people to be able to appreciate and look at it, and people who have more knowledge then me to analyse it. Also is there like a code that detectorists and magnet fishers have to follow, cos if there was and people where knowledgeable about it, there could be a lot more communication and partnership with the archaeologists. Also when detectoring and magnet fishing does removal of the artifact from its insitu position affect what can be gleened from it.

[@mykul8151]

The Sword of Summer would have been a better joke. Frey’s sword 🗡️ 😏

[@carlosdelagarza8983]

Me thinks you're looking quite fit. Good look on you! Have a great week!

[@norbertlewandowski6035]

Dredging up rivers and/or trespassing isn't cool. People need to stop this feeling of entitlement. People who find items and don't report it will never get items authenticated . Kinda makes them worthless.

[@andersnygaard909]

Huh. How do archaeologists do surveys of submerged archaeology? Where I grew up used to be the 18th century equivalent of a truck stop for sailing ships, so the sandy harbor bottom is littered with thousands of clay pipes and pottery fragments; as kids we used to wade around and dig for them. There's probably a metal deeper down in the sand. For hobbyists, maybe replace the magnet with a waterproof metal detector head on a string? Then use a drone or camera on a stick to try to have a look at whatever sets off the detector? If there's a current, disturbing silt and sand won't be as bad as you might imagine, as long as you're careful and patient.

[@P-Mouse]

not knowing the rules in the UK are there circumstances where you would get to keep a viking-age sword you found?

[@TheWelshViking]

I’m not sure there are, at least not without a museum or an archaeological trust having a legal crack at it first!

[@euansmith3699]

I was invited to take part in a River Dance. I flatley refused the offer. Thanks for another interesting video, Jimmy.

[@OzzieJayne]

Magnet fishers Peaky Dippers on YT seem to keep it pretty safe, just started watching them, they're dead-set on history, report/hand in their finds.

[@stefflus08]

Ha! "Imagine the day at work when you put your mattock through a skull" -Someone has been watching the King Richard documentary. Now there's a story for the grandkids