Heritage sites and ancient finds
The County Administrative Board is responsible for heritage sites and ancient finds in the county. Please contact us if you, for example, discover damage to a heritage site or an ancient find, have found an ancient find, or are planning a project close to a heritage site.
The County Administrative Board ensures that heritage sites and ancient finds in the county are preserved, and that no harm are done to them. All heritage sites and ancient finds have an automatic protection under the Heritage Conservation Act. The protection under the act applies to sites and finds we already know about as well as to sites and finds that are yet to be discovered.
Contact the County Administrative Board if you:
- plan a project that risks affecting ancient finds
- discover an ancient find
- discover damage to ancient finds
- need advice on how to protect and manage heritage sites or ancient finds
Permit for interventions in or at an ancient find
You need a permit from the County Administrative Board to carry out work that risks affecting ancient finds.
Examples of interventions that require a permit:
- building a house
- constructing a road
- installing underground cables
- planting and landscaping
Our starting point is to preserve ancient finds, so you should primarily plan the project so that you avoid affecting them. We can, in certain cases, give permission to make an intervention.
What does the Heritage Conservation Act say about heritage sites?
The Heritage Conservation Act says that you require a permit from the County Administrative Board to carry out the following interventions in or at an ancient find:
- dislocate
- remove
- excavate
- cover
- change or
- harm an ancient find.
Please, keep in mind that the land area around the ancient find also is protected. If you are unsure of the size of the protected area, contact the County Administrative Board. Even a newly discovered ancient find has an immediate protection.
Cases concerning ancient finds in the forest
Cultural conservation environments in the forest may be damaged in connection with felling and soil scarification. You should always consult the County Administrative Board before burning, taking measures on an existing road, ash recycling and fertilising. You need a permit for:
- soil scarification
- planting
- new road construction
- protective ditching
- stump harvesting
As the land owner, you need to contact and consult us about ancient finds, and when necessary, apply for a permit when you plan to work in the forest. You also need to contact us in those cases where ancient finds are affected; it is not enough to apply via the Swedish Forest Agency’s e-service.
The e-services and forms of the County Administrative Board in this field are not available in English. If you wish to submit an application or notification, you may contact the County Administrative Board, which can inform you how to proceed.
Did you find an ancient find?
If you find an ancient find, you are sometimes obliged to report it to the County Administrative Board or the Police. It is then the National Antiquities Office that decides whether the state should redeem the ancient find and, if so, what compensation and finder's pay the finder receives.
What does the Heritage Conservation Act say about relics?
An ancient find is an object without ownership, which has been found at a heritage site or at another location and is likely to be from the time before 1850. The Heritage Conservation Act states that the state has the right to acquire an ancient find:
- if the find wholly or partly consists of gold, silver, copper, bronze, or any other copper alloy, or
- if the find consists of two or more objects, which were likely deposited together.
Contact us if you have found an ancient find
If you have found an ancient find that the state has a right to acquire, you must report it to the County Administrative Board or to the Police. If the find belongs to a shipwreck you can choose to contact the Coast Guard.
You, who discovered the find, may be required to surrender the ancient find in return for a receipt, and to state where, when and how you discovered the find.
Using metal detectors requires a permit
According to the Heritage Conservation Act it is forbidden to use a metal detector without a permit from the County Administrative Board. We only approve permits for a limited area, and never for areas around heritage sites or ancient finds.