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Thorsten Straub - metal detecting and archaeology

Medieval Stone Cross and Author.

These crosses do not mark graves. They served as monuments. They were reminders of personal luck or tragedy of the donor who erected them. The German term is 'atonement cross' because in medieval times murderers had to erect them as punishment. This one I found by coincidence in a forest on my way to a metal detecting area.



My name is Thorsten Straub and I live in Munich, Germany. By profession I am a software engineer though in the last years much of my time and passion was devoted to amateur archaeology. While my main interest in the first 3 decades of my life was in the mathematical-technical field, I was always interested in history, especially in military history. I liked to visit museums, read books and travelled to historical sites and battlefields.

When I visited these places or touched relics my thoughts always wandered back to those who lived there or created and used the items in my hands. This was 500, 1000 or even 2000 years ago. What an amount of time in comparison to a human's life span. These items gave me a feeling of continuity. Previous generations have left a cultural heritage that became part of what we are today in a similar way to biological ancestors.

No matter how many history books I read these previous generations always seemed somewhat pale, as if seen through mist. Was there a more direct way to experience history? A way to get away from a purely theoretic approach to the physical experience of finding and digging relics of local history? Yes. Modern metal detectors provide an affordable way to be a 'private archaeologist'.

This website was set up to describe my metal detecting experiences and to be enjoyed by all hobbyists worldwide.

The author also made the website "Biblical Finds" where the prospects of finds from the world of the bible are discussed.

Other MD related websites of the author are the German websites "Sondengänger" and "Sondengänger Deutschland". The former is the German version of this website, the latter describes the situation of the German metal detectorists.

(C) Thorsten Straub www.metal-detecting.de 2006-2019.