17th January 2014, 11:12 AM
Quote:given that the majority of (50%+) of commercial sites are unexcavated, that the topsoil/subsoil is often ignored, and that recovery rate by hand (of coins etc) is very low, :
I SAY~ DETECT AWAY! (at own legal/personal risk of course)
>>if archaeologists percieve loss/damage at sites from detectorists then they need to take steps to recovery that material themsevlves!
[the vast majority of detectorists want to work with the archaeologists....]
Absolutely... as we see from the other recent comments. -- and that goes for know flint scatters too!
So... lets all sit down, face the wall and shout... Some detectorists make a mess and bring detecting into disrepute. some are criminals who use detectors to loot. and some don't find diddly squat. many want to help and be part of archaeology and lets just get over it. Shit happens, but really it ain't that bad. it really ain't ... Now archaeologists ... repeat after me some of them knowingly realise that the archaeology is being stripped/destroyed/ built on... some of us care... some of us don't most of us do care but can't do anything about it. Shit happens... live with it. most of us want to dig archaeology.
Right... now that we have established that nobody and nothing is perfect. ... do carry on.
I agree that a valuable tool would be collection and resource/location spreadsheet. do detectorists find more artefacts in similar areas than archaeolgoists? do archaeologists only really find things in areas where there is activity and therefore more chance for objects not to be lost? or hidden. etc... I hope that the information will eb collated and not used simply as a means to prove something about how terrible detectorists are. as we may as well start a similar one about farmers or developers. anyways...
read this: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entert...65351.html
and be honest... be reallly really honest... would we ( that is us as archaeologists) ever have found this items? Answer is probably not in 99% of cases
work together!