Help BAJR and the PAS at Thornborough

[Alfie]

Ok David, its your site, but can we try and remember

AUP:3. The Rules

Manners and personal conduct
? Do not shout at other contributors by posting in all capital letters
? Take care with humour that might work verbally but could lead to upset when rendered on screen. Please remember that tone can be misconstrued due to the limitations of e-media.
? Present your opinions in a tactful and moderate fashion.
? Do not be aggressive towards other members on this forum.
? Be civil in your interaction! Do not vilify, abuse, denigrate or call other members names.

I think perhaps I will give BAJR a rest for a bit...cheerio for now

[BAJR Host]

cheery bye... The AUP applies to everyone... and as Steve has had the good grace to apologise and Paul has at least explained it was a joke.. then we can see that the AUP although stretched, was not broken. I appreciate the outcome.. which just goes to show!

(perhaps I could remind people that jokes which rely on verbal intonation should be followed by the line <joke> so that there is no confusion.

Something I should remember myself...B)





Another day another WSI?

[DaveE]

I'd just like to thank David for his efforts, speaking as one of the PAS FLOs for North Yorkshire trying to organise recording at the rallies taking place this summer (of which Thornborough is only one).

Whatever you think of rallies (to be discussed on a separate thread?) they happen. In fact a number of them are happening across England in the next couple of months, including one at Thornborough. So we can:
a) ignore them (the majority position it would seem), and they go ahead;
b) expend much effort discussing the principles on a separate thread, and they go ahead;
c) actually do something to address the immediate issue of potential loss of information (not mutually exclusive with option b) if you have the energy).

PAS in North Yorkshire is taking the ‘do something’ approach. We have accepted the organisers’ invitations to attend and record at Snape and Thornborough, and we will do what we can. Conditions will not be perfect, as we know only too well having attended a number of similar rallies in previous years. The biggest problem is likely to be being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of detectorists (100s have already booked to attend). This is relatively straightforward to address if you are concerned; do as David is doing and come along and help record.

Without David’s efforts the recording team at these rallies would be a couple of FLOs and a handful of students (often with little finds experience, or not even archaeology students). With David’s efforts at least at Thornborough we will have a couple of FLOs, the handful of students … and ‘David and team’. Experienced archaeological presence more than doubled. As I say, thanks David.

[BAJR Host]

Thanks David... I appreciate that...

some come on you 'orrible shower... final orders please for joining BAJR in the field! [8D]

Another day another WSI?

[DAZ 1900]

Hi all,

Firstly may i apologise to David,Paul,Steve et al if my earlier post caused upset it was not intended to be as such, and if Hosty would allow me the privilage to respond/answer to Paul's rather direct question that i am in someway "supporting" this Rally i will be grateful and i promise to abide by AUP

Paul,

The terminology i used in my earlier post was probably not the right choice of words, but rather words that i thought would not further inflame an already heated discussion (typical me!!).
I touched on this subject in a post i made earlier in the Detecting Section but i will briefly quote here, i do not attend Rallies (although i attended several in my beginnings as a Detectorist!) this is not me being "unsociable" in any way to my fellow Detectorist's as i am a rather sociable person! i do not believe in holding Rallies "en masse" in areas such as the area in question, i also do not know the finer details of this Rally as i am not planning to attend it! so with the greatest of respect how can i be seen to be in " support" of it!. The fact is that this Rally is going to go ahead despite the protestations so the recording aspect (as long as it is used "en masse") i suppose can be seen as an exercise in "damage limitation" and it was this i was trying to touch on without going into a lenghthy post as well as trying not to upset the different camps. I think Davids involvement as an Archaeologist at this rally (although seen as controversial in certain academic quarters!) should be seen as a positive step toward the future, and i believe that although the scenario is far from perfect that his attendance along with those that have given up their free time to attend is still inkeeping with at least one of the principles of Archaeology which is Heritage Management.


Apologies for the length of post! and this is my final word on the subject!

Thanks!

D

[BAJR Host]

Many thanks for that...

Another day another WSI?

[Steve-B]

Good post Daz...

http://www.detector-distribution.co.uk

[archae_logical]

Hi All

The rally on Thornborough was to be expected as rallies have been organised in the area before (not this near to the henges though). I hope care is being taken to avoid the scheduled barrow area.

Whilst I am totally against this at Thornborough I support David in his attempt to gain useful information from it. I am sure he will take the opportunity to tell the detectorists the importance of this area and hopefully some will understand if they don't already.

Education is a great thing and we should all take every opportunity to get across to the public the importance of our heritage, not just to archaeologists and historians but to them as well. (Even my eldest daughter who knows nothing about it and isn't really interested could see what I was talking about once it had been explained to her).

As a campaigner to save the setting of the henges I would have preferred the rally not to take place obviously but, as it will happen whatever anyone wants, at least David and the rest of you that turn up will enable better recording to take place.

This does not mean I am in favour of detecting near ancient monuments, nor would i like Tarmac to make great PR from the fact of David et al's attendance, although they probably will. Unfortunately there are still many people to convince of the importance of Thornborough, my hope is that something is found to show an even better reason for Tarmac to leave the area alone.

Unfortunately I will be unable to be there as I have a broken ankle and can't drive (the result of attending yet another petition signing event for Thornborough), this also means I will be unable to attend the BAJR conference as I'd originally planned.

E

[BAJR Host]

You have the situation in a nutshell... which is why I am still appealing for archaeologists to step forward and stand with me.

Tarmac better be careful if they think they can make PR out of me though - It would be an own goal in fact, as I would happily step up to a public enquiry and explain in no uncertain terms, why I was there, and how it just strenghtens my conviction about the power of the surrounding landscape as integral to the henges .. Perhaps they should listen to my Archaeology News podcast, where I regularly support Timewatch and the campaign for Thornborough! [:I]

But first and foremost I am their to support the PAS and meet and talk with detectorists as just another person

Another day another WSI?

[Mr Field Walker]

It's a shame to hear so many pro's in the business of archaeology slagging of the metal detectorists. Lets not forget, it's not that long ago that many "so called archaeologists" where often a bunch of well to do (amateurs) plundering and digging up the heritage of England and abroad, for their own social gain and status.
With little (if any)knowledge of the science of archaeology and what they were doing. They where quite happy to dig up any old grave or ancient site with no one to challenge their reasoning for destroying these sites without being fully recorded for future generations. Since then as we are all aware of, we now have a responsible, well organised body of people we have come to respect as archaeologists.

So why it there is not more support for the detectorist, more cooperation between the two bodies? Simply because they are seen as the amateurs of yesteryear, damaging and removing historical objects for their own collections or financial gain. So where's the difference!

Perhaps there should be a new degree course, on the use of metal detectors in the field, an understanding of British history, artifact recording etc at least it may remove the image that all detectorists seem to be tarred with.

Surely it's good to see that we now have the PAS and the FLO's that are prepared to share their knowledge and time to coordinate the finds which are bing made today. A step in the right direction some will say.

But the way forward is for archaeologists and detectorists to work together, conflicts don't get you anywhere you either win or lose.
I think with more time the two can work together as a team, and that has to be better for all concerned.

For the benefit of those reading this, I'm not a professional archaeologist, but would love to have been. I have always been facinated by archaeology within the UK, but you don't hear me slagging the profession off.
Yes I am interested in metal detecting as well as archaeology, and enjoy researching the landscape environment and it's past. I also enjoy discovering local history just as much as the Roman history.
I'm also involved in a field-walking study group, run by archaeologists, recording the field scatter of pottery and flints, so who says detectorists don't know what to look for.

So when I hear people slagging detectorists off, think again, we still do our historical research, a lot do record their finds and some are pretty knowledgeable on historical subjects.
Therefore it only seems right that we should all be sailing in the same boat, with the same goal in mind, to understand, record, and lastly to share the enthusiam the past with others.