All the single ladies? Detector finds, dispersed data and suboptimal sources in the study of Viking Age metalwork

In a growing number of countries, the activities of hobby detector users are lauded as a vital source of information about the past. The present paper argues that this statement is not unequivocal. An all too idealist view of the impact of detector finds and of the recording schemes that capture and publish this data, obscures the laborious process that constitutes the heuristic stages of finds research. As a case study of select types of (pre-)Viking Age metalwork found across multiple northern European countries demonstrates, metalwork data are dispersed across multiple sources, often not conforming to academic standards. This situation complicates the retrieval, validation, processing and publication of information and hampers participation of the interested public. Through the case study analysis, the paper explores the factors contributing to the knowledge potential of detector finds data and the suboptimal sources containing such data. As a conclusion, it provides pointers forward for individual researchers and the discipline at large.