Public opinion in the US seems to be against the trashing of archaeological sites in their own country as a source of collectables for the entertainment and profit of a minority of portable antiquity collectors. Pot-diggers presumably want to preserve their freedom to collect what they want how they want without bothersome officials poking their noses into their business asking awkward questions about where the items actually came from. These collectors could perhaps take the same road as the US no-questions-asked ancient coin dealing lobby. Perhaps as a result of this scrutiny of their hobby caused by the Utah bust, they will decide to get together and form an "Ancient Ceramics Collectors Guild".... "a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving our freedom to collect, committed to fighting restrictive heritage protection legislation, promoting the free and independent collecting of ancient dugup ceramic and other ancient artifacts from our native country's past. The Guild will foster an environment in which the general public can confidently acquire and hold any artifact of historical interest regardless of date or place of origin. It will strive to achieve its goals througheducation, political action, and consumer protection...." Yeah, right. I guess like the illegal coin import stunt of the coin dealers' ACCG they could stage an illegal pot-dig in Baltimore and then in a court case challenge the US government's "retentionist" and "nationalist" policies of declaring certain ancient artefacts from US soil state property....
Seriously, I would be interested to learn from readers of any analogous groups in Native American (or other) artefact collecting circles in the USA which have a similar modus operandi as the ancient coin milieu's ACCG or the old DIG campaign in Britain, I have not come across any.
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