Tuesday 26 January 2016

Misinformed "Nazi War" Digger Implies Archaeologists are "Just Like Him"


[UPDATE: Oh look, with their typical devotion to discussion of  "best practice" on a metal detecting forum near you, the thread has been locked. Conclusion, UK metal detectorists are unwilling to discuss and incapable of, and will not be  discussing best practice. Wastrels. Note, the thread was about a news item]

[UPDATE UPDATE, How sweet, now the kids are playing 'hide and seek', the thread is unlocked again - but still no discussion of best practice in Nazi War digging].

On a metal detecting forum near you, a misinformed "Nazi War" digger implies that archaeologists are somehow just like him. In the thread "Georgian Time Capsule Found In Blackburn Cemetery Dig", there is discussion of a piece of development archaeology in Blackburn based on an article in the tabloid Daily Mail - one detectorist mentions that it is sad that "even in death they have no rest" and Kris Rodgers one of the Channel Five Four jumps in with the following (Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:45 pm):
Yup, people laid with love and respect by their families and other people who cared another to give them a burial. Proper graves, real graves created by real people. Archaeologists are capable of politician levels of hypocrisy.
I suspect that he's under the misapprehension that the archaeologists from Headland Archaeology are exhuming the cemetery for the cheap thrill of being on the TV doing something badass. I suggest he read the article first. If he cannot manage much further than the eight sentence, here is a picture:
 The burial ground is marked in red and the route of the new road, in yellow

A metal detectorist can understand a yellow line, I take it. "Road", "development archaeology", "redevelopment" Yeah? Got it? If not, ask the PAS to explain it to you.

UPDATE January 27th 2016
It took a bit of time but a forum member has just pointed out to the "Nazi War" digger  ( Fris, Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:01 am) that
"this is "Development-led Archaeology" - investigating and recording at sites that are going to be destroyed by development (in this case, a road). [...] But the long-standing feud isn't helped by snide remarks. I understand you've suffered a lot over the tv show stuff, but (with no malice here) I think you need to reflect honestly on whether it was actually not such a great idea, and maybe it's not just a large number of grumpy archies going mental for no reason.
Ah, reflection... Does Mr Rodgers do any of that? Well, here he is claiming teh whole thing is a misunderstanding, it wuz a joake (Addicted to bleeps » Wed Jan 27, 2016 11:35 am)
Yea, I know[emoticon] I was just having a giggle with a couple of friends. If you'd seen me typing behind my keyboard, you'd have noticed my tongue was firmly in cheek.
and his reflections on taking part in filming a series to be called "Nazi War Diggers"?
RE; the show, I'm still very much proud of what we achieved, and no academic snobbery can take that away from me. Finds recorded and handed to relevant authorities or now in the museums. licenses gained, permissions gained, and brave soldiers and civilians given proper, official burials. in a nutshell, the opposite of time team.
What finds were recorded and handed to the relevant authorities? Can we see a copy of those records and protocols of deposition? It seems to be the case that only a minimum of those Nazi War relics ended up in any museum from the Clearstory project, and as I and others have pointed out, there are clear documented records of the team members having "ground-dug items from Latvia" in their possession after their return. Some clarification is needed.   Can we see those "licences" (word should be permits - zezwolenie in Poland) in which cemetery were the civilians exhumed from the Evangelical cemetery in Sarbka reinterred? We are not talking about "academic snobbery", we are talking about good old honesty and best practice. Honesty and best practice. Show us the permits made out to Kris, Craig, Steve and Adrian. Without them their digging on a known historical site was as illegal as any British nighthawk. I hear the NCMD is finally taking an interest in what these clowns were doing.

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