This article is the product of a collaboration between a folklorist researching the global phenomenon of love-locks (padlocks attached to public structures in declaration of romantic commitment) and an archaeologist who also happens to be a player of ‘Geocaching’ (a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices). A chance discussion between the two revealed significant overlaps between love-locking and geocaching, despite the two practices being divergent in function and intention. Some overlaps are tangible, with love-locks forming an integral component of a number of geocaches worldwide. Other overlaps are theoretical, with both practices resulting in contemporary assemblages, or ‘serial collaborative creations’, fundamentally driven by the relationships between objects, places and human participants. The question driving this article is: what can we learn about these two seemingly different customs by considering where they overlap?

本文是民俗学家合作研究的产物，该民俗学家研究了全球性的爱情锁（声明浪漫承诺的挂锁，挂在公共结构上）和考古学家（同时还是“寻宝”）的现实参与者，使用支持GPS的设备进行户外寻宝游戏）。两者之间的一次机会讨论表明，尽管两种做法在功能和意图上存在分歧，但爱情锁和寻宝之间存在重大重叠。有些重叠是有形的，爱情锁构成了全球许多地理缓存的组成部分。其他重叠是理论上的重叠，这两种做法都导致当代的组合或“串行协作创作”，这在根本上是由对象，地点和人类参与者之间的关系驱动的。