10th July 2005, 03:13 PM
As Mr Hosty has already said the idea of licensing has been chewed over very much - see above. I can't see it working. Take angling as an example. Many, many anglers do purchase their annual license. Others don't - they continue poaching.
I would like to see curators take a bit more of a lead in encouraging co-operation. The above talk about seeding and proactive metal detecting made me think. There are prolific sites out there that continue to be ploughed and are detected piecemeal. The really good sites are targeted by Nighthawks. Say, every year a rescue rally was organised by local socities AND curators on such sites, the (intellectual) rewards for all could be huge. I wouldn't want to see archaeological control per se, but some involvement. Perhaps they might advise on the thorny issue of ploughsoil depth. This is the biggest issue to me - the danger of ripping things up from in situ contexts.
I would like to see curators take a bit more of a lead in encouraging co-operation. The above talk about seeding and proactive metal detecting made me think. There are prolific sites out there that continue to be ploughed and are detected piecemeal. The really good sites are targeted by Nighthawks. Say, every year a rescue rally was organised by local socities AND curators on such sites, the (intellectual) rewards for all could be huge. I wouldn't want to see archaeological control per se, but some involvement. Perhaps they might advise on the thorny issue of ploughsoil depth. This is the biggest issue to me - the danger of ripping things up from in situ contexts.