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On the UK and European Metal Detecting Forum they are discussing the possibilities of going to loot archaeological sites in Brazil at the Christmas break. London resident rogargaro15 (Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:31 am) is going and invites people to join him:
Just who do these people think they are? Just because British law is so pathetically inadequate to save anything much less imposing than Stonehenge from being bulldozed or looted away does not mean that this gives Brits a licence to loot and destroy sites all over the world with the same gay abandon as they treat the archaeological heritage at home, on the grounds that the unenlightened natives are so ignorant that they will not stop them. That is neo-colonialism at its worst - I thought the Brits at least would have that behind them. Obviously however from the responses the invitation got colonial attitudes are still thriving in certain circles of British society.
Vignette: Brazilian border guards, look out for this man if he leaves the country carrying a metal detector and a big bag (click here to enlarge image).
On the UK and European Metal Detecting Forum they are discussing the possibilities of going to loot archaeological sites in Brazil at the Christmas break. London resident rogargaro15 (Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:31 am) is going and invites people to join him: hey guys, near christmas i will be going to brazil do some metal detecting, it's not too bad there, it's not very old, but is the same age as usa is. you can find easily some stuff from the 1700s and the best is that metal detecting is very rare there, meaning that most places are undiscovered yet, filled with treasures =) and other, there are almost no laws against metal detecting, as some people there dont even know what it is. lolSo, basically this guy is proposing to take a metal detector to hoik metal artefacts out of the pre-independence and colonial sites of the region? To take away pieces of Brazil's early past? And they think they'll probably get away with it because the ignorant brown-skinned folk over there are so stupid they "dont even know what it is ("lol")" to have people from abroad loot archaeological sites for collectables. Not yet. Why, the native are so brown-skinned-ignorant they say that there are "almost" no laws against metal detecting. Says who? I can see on the Brazilian legislation on the UNESCO database at least one hurdle to the plan. What does "almost no laws" mean? In any case, is it really just the "law" which is important in such things? A lot of things which are not right in the eyes of most people are legal (or not illegal).
Just who do these people think they are? Just because British law is so pathetically inadequate to save anything much less imposing than Stonehenge from being bulldozed or looted away does not mean that this gives Brits a licence to loot and destroy sites all over the world with the same gay abandon as they treat the archaeological heritage at home, on the grounds that the unenlightened natives are so ignorant that they will not stop them. That is neo-colonialism at its worst - I thought the Brits at least would have that behind them. Obviously however from the responses the invitation got colonial attitudes are still thriving in certain circles of British society.
Vignette: Brazilian border guards, look out for this man if he leaves the country carrying a metal detector and a big bag (click here to enlarge image).
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