DetectingWales.com

Folks,

Came across this video on youtube by DeepDiggerDan concerning Archeologists versus metal detectorists.

Food for thought.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6I2Qh8c4Jk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6I2Qh8c4Jk)

Regards + HH

Bill

 

Personally after watching the video yawn yawn, cannot see what his purpose is other than to winge.  ::)

he does have a some valid points although hes starting to rant on

His ignorance is astounding and somewhat unbelievable, personally I don't think he has any valid points and I'm sure if he asked some of his archaeologist "friends" they would tell him the reasons why we can be the bane of their lives which has nothing to do with jealousy.
The often recited old mantra of "we save history" is laughable at best we don't save history we dig up pieces of metal from history which are pieces of the jigsaw puzzle picture of history, for every detectorist who records ALL their finds over 300 years I'll show you at least 10 that don't so in fact we steal history by taking away parts of the full picture.
I've been at one dig in particular which was on an upland Roman farmstead site where the Roman level was only around 7"-8" deep and the whole surface was pockmarked where a detectorist had dug through from above and removed finds from their stratified layer, so we need to educate ourselves, admit there are times we get it wrong and stop the them and us attitude.
I find his video very dangerous in the sense that he has a quite large audience of which are probably many many newbies who will no doubt take his ramblings as gospel which will propagate the mistrust for another generation, if anyone wants to know how the sectarian divide has lasted for so long in Ireland watch this video ;)

Geoff,

I for one only detect in public urban green spaces where I live....it's been filled, resodded and otherwise destroyed insofar as context and stratification is concerned and none of these sites are off limits.

Most other detectorists  I know on my side of the pond detect at similar sites or on plowed fields with permission likewise the soil has been plowed again and again.

If memory serves me under PAS close to 1,000,000 artifacts have been recorded for posterity and most were not declared treasure.

There are hundreds if not thousands of protected sites where the archeologists have yet to explore.

Regards + HH

Bill
 

I suppose everyone has there opinion but for me I love my hobby I love history but I don't think archaeologists have any greater claim on it as it belongs to us all  ;D what's needed is a greater mutual respect after all archaeology itself came out of a hobby people collecting antiques I think they do forget this plus they wouldn't have half the sites they go to without the discovery's made by detectorists I think I've lit the touch paper now so I'm going to stand well back

Don't worry Steve it's been going around since the year dot, my gripe was Dans holier than thou attitude in that we never do anything wrong and it's all the archaeologists fault which promotes the them and us divide when many of us have spent years trying to heal wounds ;)

                                 Having just watched the video, I am still digesting Dan's rant and finding my self contemplating several aspects of our hobby. Wouldn't it be interesting if FLO's in each area could organise events where archaeologists and detectorists could meet in an environment of mutual interests, and where we could each learn from the other? Perhaps this already takes place and I have missed or overlooked the fact!   :-\

dont get me wrong but tectin is full of this holier than though attitude ,sorry guys the morals to detecting are all wrong,great hobby even though it is  but I think people lose sight of what detecting is about ,many people think detecting is now a hobby where people find as much monetary value as they can which sadly the view  has been passed down to landowners and joe public via the media ,,,,,,,im tectin at a farm tomoz that has a visable saxon defensive earthwork on it which is scheduled {farmer says I can detect it if I wish} I aint going to as I didn't sign up for detecting to do that but I aint to sure some others would show the same restraint.

Geof,

I'm certainly not naive enough to believe that both sides are perfect both communities have their bad apples unfortunately.

Just for the heck of it I was taking an online archeology course based out of the US sponsored by an Ivy League school....I posted up a thread asking if the archeologists were prepared to work with detectorists.

Most of the European archeologists either were already working with detectorists or were prepared to....however, it appears at least in the US they're taught at University that we're the bad guys.....I walked away from the course rather than get into a battle royal with them.

I think it will be quite a while on my side of the pond before the divide gets closed unfortunately.

I know as admin on a pretty good size forum we keep hammering away at the code of ethics and other best practices....let's hope most members actually behave that way when they are out in the field.

Regards + HH

Bill

It is human nature to have opinions about things in life but don't get it mixed up with paranoia as some seem to  ;) 

Howmany detectorists carry camera's gps etc.

Howmany take photographs as they dig out the finds, 1 - 2 none !

This is what the arkies are concerned about, its the whole picture of removing an artefact from the ground, the layers around the artefact tell a story.

Quite a  few of rally attendee's cannot even put the clods back in their holes correctly.

No as Chef stated earlier, the post is not good for relations and potentially damaging, not thought out.

Detectorists should be trained in removal of artefacts and that includes me too  ;)

Here, here! Where can I get a free "gps ap" for my smart phone?

Hi Folks

I'm new to this forum but have been detecting for about a year. Whilst I don't live in Wales i'm interested in what consitutes responsible detecting and so found this post good reading. I started off detecting probably for I'd like to find gold reasons but also because I do 'like history'. However the more I've detected the more i've thought about my digging in a wider social context and have been exploring the reasons why archaeologists and others might not see the benefit in what we do.

I also ramble about what might be responsible detecting, my finds and other stuff in my new blog at  http://theresponsibledetectorist.blogspot.co.uk/ (http://theresponsibledetectorist.blogspot.co.uk/)

Anyway hope you don't mind me popping in but just good to see some discussion about metal detecting practices.

Cheers

Ben

Welcome to the DW Forum Ben