We can’t both be right. We think artefact hunters who target archaeological sites (albeit legally) or don’t report all their finds despite 15 years of cajoling should be publicly exposed as cultural vandals. In contrast The Portable Antiquities Scheme says very little about them. Since PAS comprises government backed archaeologists many would assume it’s us who are wrong. So we were pleased to see this article showing what U.S. archaeologists think about the issue:
“Maybe even sadder still for archaeologists is how once an artifact is removed from the ground, regardless of whose hands it might eventually end in, it has been pulled from the historical fabric where it belongs.”
(Brandon Hubbard, Staff Writer).
“It totally devalues what the artifact is, because without knowing what it is and what else might be in its surroundings, it is just another pretty thing”
(Lynn Evans, curator of archaeology for Michigan State Historic Parks).
“If you have an original manuscript in a library or archive, people — generally speaking — wouldn’t think about going into an archive and tearing a page out of a manuscript. But often people don’t see any harm in digging into an archaeological site. If you use a metal detector and just pull out the metal stuff and nothing else, it doesn’t allow you to learn from that site like it would if it was done with an archaeological method. In a lot of ways the really important thing for us is we want that site undisturbed — especially on public land because that information is the property of the people of Michigan. We feel like it needs to be protected for the public good.”
(Dean Anderson, state archaeologist for Michigan).
So when the Head of PAS says our approach is wrong it’s water off a duck’s back – for we are simply expressing the same outrage about an assault on “the public good” that is voiced by tens of thousands of American archaeologists. A bit of outrage about it from PAS wouldn’t come amiss. So far, the only outrage we’ve ever seen from them has been directed towards conservationists. Come to think of it, the only praise we’ve ever seen them express has been directed towards artefact hunters!
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More Heritage Action views on metal detecting and artefact collecting
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3 comments
Comments feed for this article
04/07/2013 at 17:48
Nailer
A good article highlighting the real issues.
07/09/2013 at 21:45
Keith Macdonald
You need to talk to ARCHI – they are very happy encouraging metal detectorists to let rip. Here’s the start of an email just received:
—– the rest is the ARCHI content —–
More than 1500 Roman and Iron Age / Celtic sites added to the ARCHI UK database
Dear ARCHI user,
Another 1500 Roman and Iron Age sites have just been added to the ARCHI UK database.
This update includes the locations of many more Roman and Iron Age / Celtic coin findspots. These find spots are particularly useful to the field walker because they often indicate that there was Roman and Iron Age / Celtic activity in the surrounding area.
Findspots of Iron Age coins are of particular significance because a knowledge of their distribution can often help to build a picture of the geographical extent of the Iron Age / Celtic tribal areas and therefore contribute to our understanding of the significance of particular ancient British tribes.
If you wish to generate a map of the gold coin find-spots in your area of interest, go the ARCHI website at http://www.archiuk.com. Alternatively, you can Google the keywords ‘ARCHI UK’ and enter the Archaeology UK website that way. In the search box type your place of interest (eg colchester) or a co-ordinate (eg TL 99 25) and type in the keyword ‘gold’ in the keyword box:
08/09/2013 at 05:21
heritageaction
Thanks for that. Even they know their product is potentially damaging – why else would they talk about field walkers instead of detectorists?