Hacker News Reader

Ireland

"It illegal to use a detection device to search for archaeological objects anywhere within the State or its territorial seas; without the prior written consent of the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht"

(Note "anywhere")

https://www.museum.ie/en-ie/collections-research/the-law-on-...

That, to me, implies there's a lot of unfound treasures over there... and/or a lot of illegal searching. Assuming there's interest outside of archeological value, of course.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/two-anonymously-se...

Some good Samaritans sometimes send in Ireland's priceless heritage to the national museum. But of course they're not going to reveal who they are, or where they found it. They don't want to go to prison. So I guess we'll never know.

Most countries have similar rules, and that's also the standard (rarely prosecuted) view in international law. The general rule of thumb is that antiquities belong to the state, anything else (like treasure hoards in the UK) is an atypical exception.

In the UK, if the site is a scheduled ancient monument then you need permission to even dig a small hole.

iirc, it is forbidden in Sweden, except if you secure government permission.