Metal-detecting data as citizen science archaeology

Avocational metal-detecting in Finland has produced a mass of new and important archaeological data over the past ten years, and responsible metal-detectorists act as citizen science archaeologists. Important steps have been made in producing digital archaeological data services aimed at both professionals and the public, including the Ilppari online finds reporting service and the FindSampo citizen science data service and semantic online heritage portal. But with this development work we have also seen that more attention needs to be put on data quality, data structure, database design, and on development work of digital services in order for them to influence a higher user potential. In our paper we argue, through select case studies, that appropriately recorded metal-detected finds possess tremendous possibilities for advancing archaeological understanding of the past. This data can be used for creating new spatial analysis, for identifying previously unrecorded and therefore vulnerable archaeological sites, and for identifying new potential research areas.