Collectors' Forum Yahoos: 'Stupid Nig-nogs' (2)

In the discussion of Cline's 'Do You Get to Keep What you Find? (see post above), we see a typical array of the responses of the commercial world to the issue of collection-driven exploitation of the archaeological record. As a starter, we could take a look at the post (Thu Mar 30, 2017 8:31 pm PDT) by Robert Kokotailo of Calgary Coins. This takes off from the statement by another member that even if collectors stopped buying items that cannot be shown to not be looted and smuggled, allegedly 'the looting would still go on'. Like the  mud-mining peasants of Monty Python's Holy Grail, the pirates reckon unenlightened and mentally-retarded nig-nog peasants all over the world are laboriously digging over ancient sites for scrap iron and bronze to sell (in 'bazaars') for its metal content. Hmmm. A long time ago I challenged the holders of such views to show us that the model they apply so freely is in any way workable. 

Sunday, 6 July 2014
Challenge not Taken up. Why?
The 'scrap metal subsistence diggers' trope has been continually trotted out for the last few years by those unwilling to contemplate cleaning up the no-questions-asked market in dugup antiquities (see a Canadian example here). It is worth noting that my five-year old challenge (of Sunday, 12 April 2009): 'Testing the scrap seekers myth' has not been taken up. It seems no collector glibly using this model as a prop is willing to put his money where his mouth is and attempt to prove that what he claims "is happening" is even feasible. I think it might be useful to consider why, and what that tells us about the state of the debate with dugup artefact collectors.

 Eight years on and collectors and dealers alike seem intent on ignoring the practical issues that applying their model actually involves. Of course if you are blinkered, know-nothing, xenophobic, orientalist nig-nog haters, who apparently believe that east of the Atlantic and North Sea, the world works in a 'different way', perhaps the model still may appear fantasy-feasible. Perhaps that is why  from dealer fantasy land in Calgary we hear from a dealer who is convinced he - given a spade and a place to dig - could do it: 

Keep in mind that the search for metals would happen even if no metals are present, as the looters have no idea if they will find any until they dig. The reality is that the less value they find in each hold, the more holes they will have to dig to make any type of living. By ending the collector market, you not only fail to stop looting, and destroy more of the information in the artifacts, you also will significantly increase the amount of looting.

This we can call the 'Calgary Effect' after the hopeful Treasure Hunters of that cowboy town. A 42-year old ex-cowboy will go out on a hot summer day and dig a hole looking in an ancient homestead site for metals to sell for scrap. He finds two rusty nails and an old tin can. He scratches his head and then digs another bigger hole with similar results, too stupid to stop, he digs more and more holes until winter comes and the ground is too hard to dig. But no matter, as soon as the Thaw comes he'll be out there fruitlessly digging holes until his back breaks. I wonder whether Mr Kokotailo has the intelligence to see the fault of his model without actually trying it himself. 

Then the dugup dealer - true to form - goes on in 'put the blame on somebody else' mode:

If you want to end looting, or at least dramatically reduce it you have to find another way for them to make a living that is more lucrative and less risky. If presented with it, most of them would probably take it. I have never seen any archaeologist pushing in that direction.

Hm, nor beermat collectors, wildlife photographers and traffic wardens. Tragic. America concerns 'should' outsource their work to Calgary rather than Calcutta and Canton to stop ex-cowboys looting abandoned homesteads? What kind of deranged fantasy world do collectors and dealers inhabit? But that's not the end of the madness:

I bet if a study were done, a very high percentage (perhaps 80%+) of students that go into archaeology started with an interest in some type of collecting. If I am correct about this, end collecting will result in an 80%+ drop in enrollment an archaeological faculties world wide, and I doubt many of them could attract enough funding to continue to exist should that happen. Thus ending collecting really does have the potential to end the study of archaeology. 

Ummm, I bet if you did such a study, you'd find that a very high percentage of students read books rather than go in for tactile-dreamy artefact fondling. 'Touching the past' is not likely to give you the answers to most exam questions in the first year. What tosh.