"Is it true that Paul Barford is a fictional person created by the PAS in Britain?" Well, I must admit I had not expected that. The people asking are ancient coin collectors and metal detectorists, and I have said it before and will say it again, these people have a mindset all of their own. One US ancient coin collector even contacted SAFE to ask them if I am real. One coin seller with somewhat questionable ethicals revealed to the world that he had done dealings with "[a] person claiming to be Paul Barfard via email" (" This person's written English was excellent but the coins were sent to an address in Poland. Hmmm...."). Another US coin collector (on Moneta-L) thinks the world rotates in reverse so April 1st comes before March 31st. It would be cruel to post links to the jubilant posts of these people, wouldn't it?
Suffice to say that the real Paul Barford had a busy Easter but will not be blogging much over the next few days as he is still behind with an important translation and an article on metal detecting.
For those who really could not work it out for themselves, there is no Roger Blend, no Michael Lewes, no "Potable" Antiquities Scheme and the brutish museum in London spells its name another way (but nobody who knows about what they've got stashed away inside is fooled by that). The real PAS does not have a Department of Public Education and Outreach. There is also no longer an English county called Huntingdonshire (though one metal detectorist insists there still is, as he organized a rally there last year, he says).
What is true though is that we along with the PAS have been seeing more archaeological finds removed from the archaeological record recently. That statement was deliberately ambiguous. Also the post was intended to provoke reflection on just how far British archaeologists go to "strengthen links" between themselves and the artefact hunting communities.
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4 comments:
that was a pretty April Fool's Paul.
Well, I put a bit of effort into setting it up.
I think it shows that one really needs to analyse very carefully what one reads about the issues surrounding indiscriminate collecting of antiquities, from both sides.
[If you look at the tags at the bottom, I have one for "fiction" for the sarcastic ones about "coin pixies" etc for those who cannot work out whether what they read is true or not].
I give you credit, it was well done.
I was initially going to do something else, but this came to me about two months ago.
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