Anger as TV show endorsesmetal-detecting 'plunderers'
A new television series describing the exploits of metal-detecting Britons has come under fire from archaeologists fearful that it will encourage treasure hunters who can damage ancient sites.
The British Museum has become embroiled in the controversy after opening its archives to the programme-makers and providing expert help.
Diana Friendship-Taylor, the chair of Rescue, otherwise known as the British Archaeological Trust, said: "We are, frankly, astonished, that the British Museum is prepared to lend its considerable weight to the furtherance of a method of historical inquiry which belongs in the distant past, and which has as much relevance to the practice of modern archaeology as the use of the cranial trepanation has to modern medicine.
"The apparent endorsement of this destructive activity by a body such as the British Museum will do nothing to lessen its impact on our buried archaeological heritage."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media ... 60814.html
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