Archaeology vs Metal Detecting

[RIdirtdigger]

Hi guys, Ridirtdigger here and I just completed my first semester of College at the University of Rhode Island. I took two archaeology courses and was extremely surprised by the amount of bias shown in the courses. The courses basically displayed Archaeologists as modern day heroes who save history and all other people as looters, and destroyers of history. One of my courses called the famous treasure hunter Mel Fisher a modern day Pirate showing him to be interested in nothing but the profit and destroying history to get the most money. I felt that was a little harsh. The courses said over and over that "context is the key" to everything which is why I organize all of my relics by site and don't separate them based on categories. I feel that helps preserve context. Archaeologists also say "just cause we don't have the money to excavate a site now doesn't mean we won't in the future". This is not true. Five years from now the virgin cellar hole may be gone and a subdivision in its place. All of that history gone forever. Although the courses didn't mention metal detecting it did say things like "don't pick up artifacts on the ground". Apparently even picking something off the ground destroys the context forever. Overall I feel the educational system is trying to make potential archaeologists biased against anyone else who gets in their way. Archaeologists who try to own the past end up destroying the majority of it.

[OxShoeDrew]

My only thought is that most of the artifacts are deteriorating at an alarming rate. It isn't feasible to think that archeologists will ever get to them. I don't understand why metal detectors aren't a tool in an archeologist's arinsal.

[Beartoe]

Do you believe all of the archeologist are as altruistic as the school books make them out to be. I certainly have my doubts.

[del]

Unfortunately there is contempt and suspicion in both groups you mentioned but I've seen great results when both work together for the common cause , to save relics and artifacts from deteriorating to where they can't tell the story.

You should ask your professor to contact UCONN or the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Museum and ask them how this collaboration (metal detectorists and archaeologists) is going.

Dan

[Full Metal Digger]

I'll bet if you went to any archeologist's home you would discover they have an amazing personal collection of artifacts. James Bond has a "license to kill" and some archeologists have a "license to loot." Just my opinion. I realize not everyone is bad or good.

[Skamaniac]

Each discipline has its place. Archaeology has its place where very careful and documented excavation and removal is necessary, but to say everything must be left for the "professionals" is unrealistic. Also, if yo're surprised by bias in higher education, you might want to have your surpriser calibrated!

[Paul in NJ]

Our club (ECRDA) vice president, Mike King, in 2013 attended the Archaeology Program at James Madison's estate, Montpelier, in Virginia. For a week, he worked alongside staff archaeologists and other volunteers devoted to peeling away the layers of history there. Here's the beginning of an article about the program.

In the shadow of James Madison's Montpelier, archaeologists and metal-detecting hobbyists are teaming up to unearth the history that lies beneath the 2,650-acre Virginia estate.

Armed with high-tech equipment and age-old tools, these oft-rivals are rediscovering land belonging to the nation's fourth president and using history to bridge the gap between their communities.

"There's always been kind of a disparity. They think we're grave robbers, we think they're overeducated," said 52-year-old Ron Guinazzo, a firefighter from Chicago who has been metal-detecting for 30 years. "But to learn we have the same love of history and to find a common ground where we can work to try and retrieve the artifacts from the ground and put them where they belong, that's the big thing."

So... maybe there's hope after all.

[RIdirtdigger]

Thanks for the input everyone.

[The Rebel]

My only thought is that most of the artifacts are deteriorating at an alarming rate. It isn't feasible to think that archeologists will ever get to them. I don't understand why metal detectors aren't a tool in an archeologist's arinsal.

Well said! What professor from a Ivy league school wants to be shown up by us amateurs. When I think about all the Rev, 1812, Mex & CW relics decaying away rather than being preserved it's a crime. All they have to do (and some National Parks do work with us) is get out there, get a hit, mark the spot and then let the Archie dig, ID, mark, plot the finds to better understand the battlefield.

I was up at Putnam Park here in CT and was talking to a museum curator. They say as archeologists they are not allowed to use MDs, which is pretty silly if you ask me.

[The Rebel]

Unfortunately there is contempt and suspicion in both groups you mentioned but I've seen great results when both work together for the common cause , to save relics and artifacts from deteriorating to where they can't tell the story.

You should ask your professor to contact UCONN or the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Museum and ask them how this collaboration (metal detectorists and archaeologists) is going.

Dan

Well said Dan. I know you do a LOT of work with them. Would they ever be interested for us doing a group hunt all together? I'd be pretty interested in helping out.

[Lowjiber]

There are many recorded instances where archaeologists and detectorists have worked together successfully.

That said, I've never met an archaeologist that I liked, and I crossed paths with quite a few when I lived in northern California. For the most part, they're academics with their nose stuck so high in the air that the FAA has to issue an air-advisory to aircraft in their immediate vicinity.

I could tell you some stories... none good.

[Trooper733]

I cant remember the source, but I read an article not too long ago where a gentleman using a metal detector in the UK found an unprecedented hoard of medieval treasures, including gold artifacts, which were recovered using scientific archaeological dig techniques, AFTER the initial find by the man with the metal detector. These artifacts would never have been discovered but for the enthusiast with a metal detector......I don't know why they fight us and try to portray us as destroyers of history. Granted, some are working in the dead of night, without permission, and purely for profit, but we all get painted with the same brush, and I tend to agree with Lowjiber in his previous post about crossing paths with the academics.........