I'm an academician myself, a Neurobiologist to be exact. I've worked with 'real' archaeologists on occasion, and have contact with still more through the historical society that I'm a member of. Although we get along well enough, it's pretty clear through the discussions I've had with them that if they had their way, nobody without credentials would be allowed to touch anything of any historical interest, and that the use of metal detectors would be outlawed. Putting aside for a moment that Public Radio is a snakenest of statism, what you heard is a typical example of the elitist attitude pervading government and academics: this notion that plain folks just aren't smart enough or moral enough to do anything right and so need lots of laws to keep them in line. While I dutifully catalogue all my finds and report anything that might be of interest, this is something I do because it pleases me to do so. I find nothing less moral about a sestertius or a Civil war buckle in a private collection - where somebody can at least see and admire it - than if it were stuffed into a labelled box in the basement of a university building somewhere. Make no mistake about it, this is where the vast majority of archaeological material winds up; only a vanishingly small fraction ever finds its way into a museum. How many minnieballs, privy pits, and potsherds do they need, anyway? What more can possibly be learned by nationalizing the 947th Civil War campground - which by all odds, will never be excavated. The public needs to ask itself just what archaeologists have done to improve the quality of anybody's lives, except those of archaeologists when it comes time to get their grants renewed.

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Posted By: fra-pci-lai-vty12.as.wcom.net - 212.211.70.12 - July 17, 2001 at 14:42:27