Quite possibly one of the most negative things I have ever read about detectors.

There's a TV show I like to watch called Time Team in which presenter Tony Robinson takes an archaeological group on a whirlwind 3 day outing to a number of interesting sites in England. They've limited themselves to those three days by choice but they leave behind the work they have done to local archaeologists for further study and to continue the diggings. In all of their shows, they nearly always have comments about the help that local metal detectorists have been in either finding the original site or helping to find metal during their dig. It's wonderful to see the local detector club working side by side with the Time Team. A fascinating show. After you watch the show a few times, the members of the team become sort of like an extended family willing to get really dirty just to show you what's been left behind by Romans, Saxons and those crazy folks from the Dark Ages. A great show.

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

This brings me to my comment. The show Time Team America (based loosely on the British show) is just not as knowledgeable about what detectorists do. They haven't once shown a detectorist on a dig with them and refer to any disturbance in the ground as having been "looted" or to the activity of detectorists as "looting." It makes me quite ill, actually, to recall the number of times clubs I have been in that have offered to work with a local historical society to find artifacts in a town or preservation site. The volunteer hours spent by members for no compensation at all boggles the mind. To be lumped into a group and called a "looter" is just a heinous misuse of the English language. The team on this show raise the hackles on my back.

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,15399.msg98953.html#msg98953

		Quote:			Posted by BitburgAggie_7377
	Now now, Spooky, it's an elite thing----you wouldn't understand.   It's just that they KNOW better and CARE more than you, so you should be happy when they liberate you from your misperceptions of your relative roles in society.   Rule Academia!

Think BA may be in the cough medicine

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,15399.msg98956.html#msg98956

because Archies have degrees in the field (and if they ever institute licensing, they'll require a degree to have a license....just as there are politicians in the US that are talking about licensing journalist and stating one of the requirements to be a "licensed" journalist is having a degree in journalism).   We, the great unwashed, have been far too self-sufficient, self-assured, and egalitarian for far too long.  If you don't like it, get a couple of degrees in archeology and get hired on as a professor....then you can loot to your hearts content while you "store" the objects for "study" in your office.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,15399.msg98959.html#msg98959

		Quote:			Posted by homefire
	Well I guess that's not going to happen. I have no wish to rub elbows with the Elite Communist in control of our higher education facilities.

I just hope my cousin the archeologist doesn't read my rant.....he's actually a pretty decent guy who would enjoy the company of a lot of the folks who hang out here. 

(As a matter of fact, I was thinking the "journalist/archeologist" who wrote the article that started this would do good to spend some time with some of the members of THunting.com, like toleary34, or Pgill, or johnn, or mcintosh or any of numerous others who want to understand everything there is to learn about the items they unearth and who ask the hard questions about how to best preserve things like ca 1900 axe head.  The writer would learn a thing about the life of history and the thirst for knowledge and understanding....and he'd sure see it wasn't for the money!   And some of them are every bit as meticulous as some archies)



Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,15399.msg98964.html#msg98964

Homefire, higher education is a lot like Wikipedia. It's a good place to start but never, ever take what you read as the last word. There's always something new to be learned and you don't learn it by reading the limits of other research. You create and do your own and, if you are willing to help, you contribute your findings.

Linkback:

You are not allowed to view links.
Please Register or Login

http://www.thunting.com/smf/index.php/topic,15399.msg98983.html#msg98983