Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
The Saturday June 5, 2021 New York Times had a lengthy article entitled The New Detectorists. The gist of the article is summed up in the following sentence: As an old outdoor hobby draws new followers, metal detectors are sweeping the country.
The title itself contains a word with a little history. The word detectorist was rarely used earlier than about ten years ago. I remember being interviewed in 2011 for an article that was published in the CNN Travel Section, and the writer asked me about the term when she heard me use it for the first time.
Detectorists were often called coin-shooters in the past. That was never a term I liked very much, because except for a very short time, coins weren't my primary target. When I started to target gold rings coins became for me what I would call collateral or secondary finds. The term coin-shooter no longer seemed to apply to what I was doing.
I've said this before but metal detecting is not really the goal for some people. The goal is finding things - not detecting. For me, the trouble with the term detectorist, is that it puts too much emphasis on the tool, and I prefer to look at the detector as just one tool and keep other methods, such as eye-balling, sifting and dredging, from being neglected. There are times to use other methods.
Back in 2014 I conducted a poll to find out why people metal detect. 47% of the respondents said "because it is fun." That is almost half the people, but not quite. If having fun is biggest reason people detect, then detectorists might not be a bad description. They just like the to go out and swing a metal detector.
In the same poll, the second biggest group (42%) said they metal detect because of the prospect of uncovering and touching a piece of history. Again, metal detecting would be only one method of uncovering history. In fact, many of the oldest things you might find are not metallic, such as fossils, gems, and Native American artifacts. And other old historic items might be other non-metallic objects such as bottles or pottery.
The longer I've detect, the less my treasure hunting has to do with actually swinging a metal detector. There is all the research that comes before and after the hunt. There is a lot of study, practice and learning, theorizing and strategizing, and then there is the evaluating and interpreting and the cleaning and preservation of finds. And there are also the other search techniques that have little or nothing to do with a metal detector, such as eye-balling, sifting, or dredging. I do a lot of eye-balling, especially when hunting old bottles or scouting out beaches or detecting sites.
But back to the idea that there are more and more people, including younger people, taking up metal detecting.
In 2014 (seven years ago) I conducted a poll to determine the age of those who metal detect. Here is what I learned.
Of the 152 (very good sample size) who responded to the poll, only 1 person was under 25.
Even more surprising to me is the fact that only 7 (2%) of those that responded to the poll were 35 or under. 93% of those that responded to the poll were 36 or older.
According to the poll, the peak age group was 56 - 65 (33%). That certainly corresponds to the beginning of the retirement years, so maybe it is a matter of leisure time.
23% were 66 or older. There is a time when detecting becomes more physically challenging. It does seem that among hard-core detectorists, they continue until it becomes difficult.
Link: https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2014/01/11214-report-age-of-those-who-metal.html