Wednesday 16 May 2012

Sic Transit... Sadly, "Assemblage" Goes Offline

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Will Anderson's "Assemblage" ('Political Archaeology') blog is going offline, so get over there now and read through it before it is taken down. There is some interesting stuff there. One of the reasons its author has decided to remove the blog is that:
I noticed a couple more salacious spam hits on the ‘Nighthawking Report Out’ post – one of several posts on metal detecting that I’m fairly sure have been intentionally targeted because of their content. 
Well, there you have it, archaeology's erstwhile "partners" are showing their true colours time and time again. They really do not like people watching what they are doing (why? It's everybody's heritage they are handling) and do everything they can to be disruptive.

I remember Will from the old days when, like most archaeologists, he was still a bit undecided about all this PAS stuff. He was even at one stage pretty enthusiastic about being nice to artefact hunters. But then, unlike most archaeologists, he got down to thinking about it and his later posts exhibited a goodly deal of scepticism.

shiny stuff sets the agenda  May 25, 2011
mind the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer? October 15, 2010

the Crosby Garrett conspiracy October 11, 2010
        (five comments, including the "you elitist crapheads" from a MD)
paying for what? March 24, 2010 (5 comments)
first conviction under Treasure Act 1996 February 28, 2010
Boxes of gold (Staffordshire Hoard) September 24, 2009 (nine comments)

Nighthawking report out February 16, 2009
        (20 comments, some very revealing, sorry to hear they will be lost)
Meet the ‘responsible’ lithic collectors September 30, 2008 
What is responsible metal detecting? June 4, 2008
        (nine comments, several from pro-collecting arky, David Connolly)
Metal detecting in Northern Ireland – the rulez May 19, 2008
Bottle collectors: looters or ‘unsung heroes’? March 26, 2008
PAS under threat December 19, 2007
PAS safe for now March 6, 2008

Metal detecting sets the agenda December 26, 2007

And two from more pro-PAS days:

Medieval Pilgrimage and Modern Metal Detecting December 13, 2007
Cover up your holes! September 26, 2007

I hope Will reconsiders his decision to delete this archive of old posts and people's comments. I refer to at lest one of them in a paper publication as I recall. Although nothing in the internet is permanent, there is material available here that is not accessible anywhere else and part of the social history of archaeology. We've already lost a vast body of important material with the deletion of the PAS forum (for I am sure the-one-they-pretend-not-to-have does not contain this old material archived). Far from it being "irresponsible to leave [Will's blog] without checking or adding to it, floating about like internet flotsam", I personally would like it to continue to be accessible. If its merely a question of somebody else looking after it, I am sure something can be arranged.

But whatever he ultimately decides to do, now Will is moving on and I wish him all the best in his new endeavours.

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