In Russia, no one wants to register treasures. What is the extent of cultural and historical damage?

Lately there has been an impression that a treasure hunter is inevitably a person with a metal detector, a shovel or a crowbar. However, we can understand that every year in our country, citizens accidentally discover dozens of treasures. That is, without having any prior intention. To understand the total volume, approximately how many treasures citizens of the Russian Federation can find per year, precisely by accident, and therefore partially legally, we can look at the statistics of the USSR and the Russian Empire.

In the USSR, up to a hundred treasures of precious metals were registered annually at Gokhran. No one has ever taken into account all kinds of treasures of Bronze Age things and copper coins. In the Russian Empire, according to the provincial accounting and archival commissions, from two hundred to three hundred cash and clothing treasures were registered annually.

Therefore, we can objectively predict that in our country, citizens annually, relatively legally, find from one hundred to two hundred treasures. Once again, I want to clarify that these are treasures that were not found by amateurs of instrumental searching in tracts, not by looters in abandoned houses, and not by blacksmiths in ancient settlements. These are, precisely, treasures found by chance.

At the same time, in our country, over the past thirty years, no more than ten cases of voluntary registration of treasures have been officially registered by various authorities.

Why is this so??? Because, according to our current legislation, a citizen who finds a treasure can receive a monetary reward for it only if several incompatible events come together.

Let’s immediately forget that very Soviet norm about a 25% premium on the value of the treasure. Now, according to the law, the found treasure must be divided equally between the finder and the owner of the land plot or structure. However, there is one “but”. If the person who found the treasure did not receive permission in ADVANCE from the owner of the land or building to search for the treasure, then the found treasure is 100% the property of the owner of the land or building.

Get the essence??? No, then I’ll explain figuratively. You are walking through the forest, picking mushrooms, and then, in the roots of a fallen tree, you discover gold coins. Let’s say gold))) And that’s it!!! According to the law, the treasure found does not belong to you, since you did not seek permission from the owner to search for it. In this case, Rosleskhoz. If you didn’t get permission in advance, that means you’re on the receiving end of a dead donkey, not a bonus. Moreover, a citizen who finds a treasure can be accused of illegal archaeological activities and receive an administrative charge or even a real criminal sentence. Do you think this is a joke? No, this is a real administrative matter, when a man brought a treasure of Bronze Age objects to the Arctic Museum and handed them over to the Arctic Museum.

Okay, what’s next? And then comes the understanding that even if you find a treasure on your land, and thank God you manage to prove that there are no archaeological sites on this land, then there will simply be nowhere to hand it over or sell it. This is the case if the treasure is made of base metals. In our country there is no methodology for calculating the cost of historical items made of base metals. That is, simply recognizing some Bronze Age jewelry as a treasure will not work according to the law. Because, according to the law, treasure is valuable items. And if the value cannot be calculated, then it is not a treasure. And the only thing that can be done with these finds is to donate them, namely donate them as local history material, to the nearest local history museum.

And, I just told you just a part of the real examples of how, according to our law, even honest and law-abiding citizens are instantly turned into criminals.

But what is striking is not even this, but the fact that no one really gives a damn about it. I asked questions to very serious people from archeology and museum affairs. Do they understand what colossal damage is suffered annually by domestic historical science??? How many items of world cultural heritage simply disappear on the black market, only because you, the sovereign’s people, do not want to establish a system of honest ransoming treasures they found from citizens???

To which, almost everyone answered me with the same memorized phrase. If we start buying back archaeological objects, this will lead to the fact that our black diggers will completely lose their fear and dig up everything that they haven’t had time to dig up yet. And, to my question “Oh, how then can the acquirers of treasures be honest????” They shrug their shoulders in response and say, “Oh, how can we understand whether he is honest or not?”< /p>

This is how it turns out, everything is sad, sad and hopeless.