Well, Somebody takes my point. A Pity the British Museum Can't Understand

With regard to the British Museum conference which poses the question "Can Detectorists Be Archaeologist [sic]?", I repeat the question in the context of my own twitter feed on antiquities collecting and the commerce in artefacts:

Paul Barford @PortantIssues 25.08
"Can artefact hunters be archaeologists"? upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm… PAS, Tell us all about it

vj @ poetryinstone @poetryinstone 25.08 @PortantIssues
destroying context and reducing sacred art to showcase curios !! disgrace not only to the profession but to humanity

The issue is between those who in the past see only loose "things" to display and admire and those whose concern it is to preserve things in their contexts. The British Museum used to do real archaeology (Sutton Hoo for example), now it seems from official communiques that it does not even really know what the word means. The British Museum becomes a brutish museum.


Vignette: Artefact hunters in their natural environment; can they be archaeologists?