tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post5519689671225603765..comments2024-03-27T04:46:33.198-07:00Comments on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: IncrediblePaul Barfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-81688243055115309602010-02-10T09:09:19.954-08:002010-02-10T09:09:19.954-08:00This was not a "test case" but an exampl...This was not a "test case" but an example, anyway I mentioned also shabtis which come from the disturbing of tombs.Paul Barfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-2618779150372508742010-02-10T08:35:44.492-08:002010-02-10T08:35:44.492-08:00Well, first of all, the pottery is not subject to ...Well, first of all, the pottery is not subject to any erosion whatsoever lying where it is. None whatsoever. That is the"normal process" by which means it has lain on the surface in virtually unchanged form exactly where it was dropped/thrown 3000 years ago. The place where it lies therefore is information. This blue pottery is very odd and only found in a resticted number of places, and was only made for a relatively short time. Obviously therefore it would be very useful to do a survey of the scatter (covering several hectares) to find out precisely what that pattern is. Then to interpret that. <br /><br />Now actually the same cannot be said of the animal bone which was als thrown down among this midden material. This dries out and flakes in the sun. Using your argument John, if the collector wanted to "save" anything, he should be collecting the animal bone fragments, but again we'd want to know from precisely which area of this highly dispersed and zoned site the pieces had been removed. Again the patterns of food waste disposal will differ across this site as well as with time (such as when the capital moved away under Akhenaton and then came back under Tutankhamun). <br /><br />So yes "mining bits of it as a (commercial) resource" even by selectively picking "collectable" material from the surface is destroying information. What is eroding this pattern are people taking away the pretty bits of pottery as collectable geegaws.<br /><br />It is a shame that collectors really do not seem to grasp this elementary principle.Paul Barfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-4012495912775834122010-02-04T02:58:20.260-08:002010-02-04T02:58:20.260-08:00Very nice, telling point on the basis of one test ...Very nice, telling point on the basis of one test case. What would happen without the market ? The pottery would lie around-- it would be subjet to nromal archaeological processes of wear, tear, destruction, reuse, but not mined as a resourceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com