(Co)Creating a Sustainable Platform for Finland’s Archaeological Chance Finds:

As is the case with several north and west European countries, Finland’s legislation allows for the hobbyist discovery of archaeological material, most commonly through metal detecting. Following in the footsteps of such countries as England and Wales with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), the Netherlands with Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands (PAN), MEDEA in Belgium, and DIME in Denmark, Finland is also developing a linked open data finds database to record and disseminate the archaeological information that comes from these non-professional activities. This approach is based upon philosophies of citizen science and participatory research, and considers the democratization of archaeology as a central goal. The interdisciplinary and multi-organizational research team charged with building FindSampo face several challenges in their effort to develop the database in an effective way. In this chapter we document the process of developing FindSampo, paying particular attention to public and community engagement challenges, working with digital data, and professional ethics.