Detectorists in Denial: It was the Rabbits Wot Dun it!

Metal detectorists in denial again. In John Howland's guest post on the John Winter blog: "Tarred with the Same Brush?" he urges his readers to contact the Wiltshire Police Commissioner, to complain about a recent Wiltshire local newspaper article which "unjustly" assumes that metal-detector-type holes were dug in a  Lacock, Wiltshire, cricket pitch by actual metal detector using artefact hunters:

no evidence exists to link this damage to a metal detectors user, so why assume and accuse the entire metal detecting community on such flimsy evidence? Quite simply, someone has put two and two together and made FIVE! [...] I am a metal detecting treasure hunter which makes me a suspect too along with every other detectorist in the UK. Who will clear our names?

wait, wait wait... where is there ANY mention of the "entire metal detecting community" in the article cited? Could Mr Howland or Mr Winter point to that phrase there? What in fact is written was reported by me ("Anti-social metal detectorists"). It is Mr Howland and Mr Winter who are making "five" from 2+2. They suggest the police and landowners take another line of enquiry. Howland and Winter think the police should be looking for vertically-burrowing divot-cutting moles and metal detecting rabbits:

Perhaps the damage is a result of someone having grudge against the club; someone worm-gathering for fishing bait; moles; an archaeologist perhaps who’s trying to blacken the hobby; or even rabbits.

Or, instead of resorting to conspiracy theory, why not suggest that the marks in the turf could be caused by the pointy landing-gear of alien spaceships, eh, Mr Howland? This is like the detectorists in denial over recent damage to the Oregon Trail ("Pink Archaeologists and the Aliens" PACHI Saturday, 31 August 2013). That's despite loads of evidence that the trail is being metal detected.

Winter then publishes some comments, one "Draaiorgel" (3 December 2013 at 3:32 pm ) is not buying the "moles" he suggests a conspiracy. He suggests that it is "more likely someone had a grudge against the cricket club". His other suggestion is to surmise that it might have been "an archaeologist perhaps who’s trying to blacken the hobby", because, he asserts: "No detectorist in his right mind would even consider doing that". Steve (3 December 2013 at 4:22 pm ) agrees with the conspiracy agin' us theory:

It is all too easy for those with an anti detecting agenda to create an incident with the aid if a garden spade and a bit of malice. Those who find the “evidence” will jump to the conclusion they are expected to. When I read the article in the Daily Telegraph I was surprised that so much column space had been devoted to it so it could be said that it was indeed a manufactured incident with a ready media outlet to give it some space…mmmm, but organised by who we do not yet know. Shades if holes dug in a certain Staffordshire field and only reported on certain anti detecting blog sites !!! Makes you wonder what is going on.

I think he means Heritage Action. Is that an accusation that Nigel Swift hopped over the fence in broad daylight and himself dug holes so he could photograph them? That otherwise there really would be no holes at all in that field? That's what it sounds like the guy is saying. Everybody is conspiring against the poor metal detectorists who can only play the victim. "Dave White" however reports a "tekkie success" (3 December 2013 at 4:27 pm)

sent angry email to police commissioner.received reply in 20 minutes saying my email will be forwarded to the chief constable 

to which Mr Howland gets feisty and Mr Winter replies (3 December 2013 at 4:33 pm)  "Excellent!" Is it really? Or is the Chief Constable (probably a normal bloke) going to think he's dealing with a bunch of loonies?

What, actually, is the problem these people have in acknowledging that there is a problem with illegal and irresponsible artefact hunting even in the UK? Simply denying the problem exists is not helping to find a way to deal with it. 

TAKE A GOOD LOOK at this behaviour, for these are precisely the sort of people the PAS wants to grab more and more millions of public quid to make into the "partners" of the British Museum, archaeological heritage professionals and to whom they want us all to entrust the exploitation of the archaeological record. Take a good look and decide what you think about that as a "policy".

Vignette: Lacock Cricket Club secretary Anthony Edwards examines the evidence (spade-hole size square divot) that allegedly it was 'rabbits etc. wot dun it' (Gazette and Herald). If it walks like a duck...