US treasure hunters urged to support Stonehenge short tunnel

It seems that some in the US have little thought or concern for the way the European heritage should be treated, for some of them, it is something to be covered in graffiti and selfies, for collectors, no steps should be taken to stop the import of illicitly artefacts which they want selfishly to buy. Now, as Heritage Action alert, artefact hunters over there ("passionatly interested in preserving the past") disgustingly are being urged to support a destructive short tunnel at Stonehenge ('US treasure hunters urged to support Stonehenge short tunnel!' Heritage Journal 22/03/2015). As the philistine instigator put it:

“May I through the comments section ask that support be given to the UK’s National Trust who favour the ‘short tunnel’ option to protect Stonehenge from traffic. We need to counter the propaganda nonsense spouted by Heritage Harry, aka, Nigel Swift of Heritage Action who is desperate to see the ‘short tunnel’ option binned. Write to:- enquiries@ nationaltrust. org.uk . I already have. Please support the ‘short tunnel’ option.” 

Note the usual name-calling and the motivation. Heritage Action are a conservation organization which attempts to defend the heritage against all sorts of things, which has brought them into conflict with those who want to exploit this resource to fill their own pockets. So, to cut off their noses to spite their face, artefact hunters are going to support destruction of a precious piece of Britain's heritage and the environs of a World Heritage Site, just to hurt those who question officialdom on their policies on the erosion of the archaeological heritage.

This is supremely ironic, given that the main threat (real and imagined) which metal detector using artefact hunters claim to be "saving" the past from is development. Yet here is a case where they could join others in trying to stop damaging development in a very conspicuous place (where one would have thought detectorists could show that they really 'care') yet they are throwing away the opportunity to be seen to be doing good through their sheer selfishness and bloody-mindedness. There is nothing new in that these are in general very selfish and bloody-minded people (despite that comment being on a popular and widely-read detectorists' website - you will note that not a single reader has commented that they saw anything inappropriate in the suggestion or the reason behind 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". 


The rest of us might consider whether to go the way of the self-centred heritage-grabbing and anti-conservationist louts of "Stout Standards", or whether they are going to sign the petition. It takes a few minutes to do so and show you care.  There is a comments box - you might like to write "because I am not a metal detectorist", just to make the point.