A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.
Sunday, 15 October 2017
Artefact Hunters and Collectors Know 'How Archaeology Shuld be being Done - innit'
To be honest I always thought Archies were on our side, and that is certainly the case with a great many... but there are some who are quite happy to stand up at the Treasure Conference and throw unfounded dispersions around the place [...] Sadly there is an element that want to close us down, and are more than happy to use smear tactics at a public conference to do it. Archies present themselves very well, they are learned academics after all, and there is nothing wrong with that... but when is the last time you heard an Archaeologist stand up and question the effectiveness of their own search techniques? These guys and girls get paid to do a good job out in the field, and then they insist on using archaic recovery techniques which leaves part of the story in the ground, and other parts of the story dug but not seen, thus leaving the narrative of the site only partly told. It seems that our hobby is always on the back foot, trying to defend itself, but given that we are collectively the experts in artefact recovery, maybe its about time we taught the Archaeologists a lesson or two in how they can do their job more effectively.
and many many more examples, though they are mainly commented on only on this blog, you'll not find them discussed anywhere else, really. PAS-partner archaeologists are not so keen to follow 'examples' like this.
British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.
"coiney" - a term I use for private collector of dug up ancient coins, particularly a member of the Moneta-L forum or the ACCG
"heap-of-artefacts-on-a-table-collecting" the term rather speaks for itself, an accumulation of loose artefacts with no attempt to link each item with documented origins. Most often used to refer to metal detectorists (ice-cream tubs-full) and ancient coin collectors (Roman coins sold in aggregated bulk lots)
"tekkie" - metal detectorist/metal detecting (a form of artefact hunting)
CDE - Collection-Driven Exploitation of archaeological sites
CPAC - Cultural Property Advisory Committee [US]
FLO - Finds Liaison Officer (post in the PAS)
HER - Historic Environment Record [UK]
IAPN - International Association of Professional Numismatists
MENA - Middle East and North Africa
PAS - Portable Antiquities Scheme
PNG - Professional Numismatists' Guild
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO 1970 Convention - Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property
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