Friday Retrospect: Metal Detectorist Challenges Archaeology

     Thomas Hall, Facebook    
 

A while ago, Thomas Hall, one of the beep-beep boys, a UK metal detectorist with some kind of a chip on his shoulder arrogantly issued Polish archaeology a challenge (Friday, 18 November 2022, 'Tekkie Challenge'): 

Paul, my dear fellow, still hiding behind the 'working in Poland' facade? Anyhow, I know my postings are most unwelcome and an affront to your archaeological sensibilities, but modern-day archeological (sic) thinking, in contrast to the oppressive head-in-the-sand viewpoint proffered by you and your steadily diminishing band of brothers, is slowly coming to realize that we, us, can, if not able to use all the terms, measurements and university learned techniques, can, nonetheless, advance historical knowledge immeasurably, I look forwards to your edited, twisted and biased version of my sincere posting. / My dear fellow, from all I witness here you are destined to, as all deniers are from early Christians to later Trump advocates, reap the rewards of your ignorance. to put it bluntly, you will, as archeological (sic) minds advance, be left, like a gasping fish wondering what strange forces have pulled you from the river of ignorance and left you floundering on the banks of enlightenment. / I will hound you my ignorant friend until you shrug off the cold coil of ignorance and embrace the warm coat of reality./

As far as finds, 'Real-Public Interest' finds are concerned, let me offer you this challenge, I, and members of my metal-detecting fraternity will, at our own expense, organize a display of our finds, and you and your archaeological comrades can, side by side with ours display yours. The ten thousand pounds prize for the most viewer interest, determined by an independent observer will be presented at the conclusion of the event. If you can be so brave as to put your money where your Gobellesian mouth is, then please, let me contact my friends in the local media and set a date.

At the time, I raised a number of practical questions about his boasting proposal, not least which commercial artefact hunting company or metal detector manufacturer would be putting up the prize money and where he proposes Polish archaeologists would be presenting their research to which public. They did not receive an immediate response from the metal detectorists who seem not to have thought the proposal through beforehand.

        Excavations on Miła Street, Warsaw         

In Warsaw, however, in the meantime, excavations are currently taking place on two sites in the former ghetto, and they are revealing a number of details of daily life in the closed ghetto under Nazi occupation, and there are a number of poignant finds that raise important questions about issues that I think would demonstrate where loose artefacts themselves need an excavated context in order to reveal the full information that they carry. I think they also reveal some interesting questions about the artefact collectors' (and PAS') labelling artefacts with ethnic labels (while undoubtable "Jewish" and related to the Jewish story, the objects themselves often have a non-emblemic nature). The whole situation also invites reflection on the materiality of public attitudes towards an "Other" in the dehumanisation that led to the Holocaust eight decades ago as well as Britain's current disgusting policies towards refugees and migrants today.   

For this reason, I propose that if Mr Hall wants to take up his own challenge, and can attract a sponsor that will put up the prize money, that his "metal detecting fraternity" could organize at his (or their) own expense, a display of their finds on the topic of "Metal Detecting on the Materiality of Otherness: the British reaction to the Jewish Holocaust 1933-1945", that can be displayed side-by-side with the results of the ongoing archaeological research. Let them take their time, the best venue for this display is the Warsaw Ghetto Museum that is currently being prepared for opening in the near future (planned in 2024 for the eightieth anniversary of the destruction of the Ghetto). The opening of a new museum will be a good occasion to judge "the most viewer interest, determined by an independent observer".

Is Mr Hall, and the British archaeological fraternity he presumes to speak for, up to it? The ball is still in their court.