Archaeologists to try Harder Next Year? Unlikely Innit.

Vicky knows some metal detectorists

Heritage Action have 'A seasonal message to archaeologists' about how they react to the deliberate erosion of the archaeological record all over the country from right under their upturned noses - "muscular outreach works, limp-wristed appeasement does not".

here’s the thing. It’s not the first time we amateurs have got detectorists and suppliers to act properly by highlighting what’s going on – but it shouldn’t be our rôle, it’s surely something archaeologists, especially those who are paid to outreach, should be doing. Back-slapping people who are going to co-operate anyway is only half the job. Highlighting to the public those who aren’t is the other (and no, kidding them that most of the knowledge-loss is down to criminal nighthawks when actually it’s predominantly down to legal misbehaviour won’t do). Half a job is not unadjacent to deliberately misleading landowners and the general public. About 560 of the 790 recordable items dug up today won’t be reported and will be lost to science. Merry Christmas.

Hiding that sort of information away in a crappy pdf stuck somewhere in the nether recesses of the PAS website is not even doing "half the job", it is a refusal to actually keep the public properly appraised of what s going on.