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The paid lobbyist of the numismatic dealers association, lobbyist-blogger Peter Tompa, seems to lack a coherent programme on artefact hunting. In a recent post he ridicules concerns that a US TV programme encourages landowners to rip up archaeological sites on their land for saleable "objects of value" they may contain - "From the looks of it, the archaeological establishment wants an archaeologist in every backyard to make sure you are not excavating anything of historical value on your own land" he quips. He does not notice that the petition against the programming policies of a certain TV station [18 630 signatures now] is not being signed by the "archaeological establishment", but by ordinary people who care about the precious historic record of the USA (Mr Tompa - dunce; its not about preserving the "artifacts" but the archaeological contexts they come from, you just don't get it do you?).
Lobbyist Tompa's laissez faire attitude towards metal detectorists working on sites containing artefactual material in the US contrasts strongly with what he says should be the policy elsewhere, in places like Bulgaria and Greece (here, here, here and here for example). Here, Lawyer Tompa says such hobbyists should be 'regulated' and stopped. This is just another blatant example of horribly rampant American exceptionalism in the writings of US antiquity collectors, deserving opprobrium.
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