Spikes American Digger with Ric Savage Good or Bad?

[DUG-TV.com]

So now that we all pretty much hate this show... what would you like to see in a real metal detecting show. My detecting partner and I are pretty new to the metal detecting world, but have jumped in with both with both feet. We have begun documenting our hunts and even had the opportunity recently to go on a hunt with Steve Moore from Garrett Metal Detectors and several other professional detectorists. We are striving to produce short "webisodes" that will be informative to the novice, but also enjoyable to the veteran. We are building a number of professional contacts in the fields of history and such that will provide expert commentary on some of our finds.

We have done a short video that we are calling "quick dig" and posted it on our site. You can see our stuff at dug-tv.com. This is only a short version of what we want to produce and it will definitely NOT be all coins. We LOVE finding things that tell a story and have met some really cool people along the way that we will introduce everyone too. Please feel free to help us make this a good show. We are trying to take it a step beyond the average dig video by including some history and clean close up shots of the targets. The longer episodes will include tips for recovery, ethical practices, interviews with experts, etc.

Maybe this will be something that people will enjoy. And even if we get excited about a find.. I can promise you we will never pound our chests and yell "BOOM BABY!!"

Oh Yeah, and we have YET to sell a relic or coin. So for us, it is definitely NOT about the money.

Happy hunting!

D.U.G. Discovered Under Ground
D.U.G. (Discovered Under Ground)

 

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[Archae33]

If an amateur records the position of an artifact in a field that has been repeated turned over with a plow, what has been learned? An Indian made it and it was found. Who owns the past? The college educated? It makes me cringe when I see Archie's Disrespecting graves and tombs. The stuff someone had buried with them had religious significance. The arrow that was shot at a buffalo and ended up in a plowed field is no more significant a find than another.

Many archaeologists would argue your last sentence is very true; that all finds are equally significant.

If an amateur records the location of an arrowhead found in a plowed field, it tells us that Native Americans occupied that place at a particular time period, since arrowheads are datable chronologically. If all the arrowheads found in a field are recorded, we can date all (or more realistically, most*) of them and then look for density patterns to learn at what time period it was most heavily occupied. And to learn those things, no university must own them. The whole lot of them could be in the hands of one or a few responsible private collectors, and we could still learn a lot more than if it was simply plucked up, taken home, and added to a bowl of other unprovenienced arrowheads on a mantle or coffee table. The past belongs to everyone... but the past the story behind the artifacts we (archaeologists and treasure hunters both) find, not the artifacts themselves, however delightful and enchanting they may be. Better to show a child artifacts and tell them what age and culture (if possible) the piece is from, and then where it was found, what it means that it was found there, and why it's important and exciting to know these things, than to simply say "Yes, here's the 167th arrowhead I found. It was attached to a haft to make an arrow by a past Native culture, and either lost or shot at something and lost. The end."

Having the artifacts in museums does make it easier to have that conversation with more members of the public, but the conversation itself is just as effective in a living room looking at a private collection that has been carefully documented over time.

 

[Archae33]

My only argument would be that this entire country for the most part is an archaeological dig site in the terms you have outlined above, especially the areas where CW battles and Indian Wars battles took place. In order to be properly recorded every farmer, farm laborer, kid at the beach digging a hole, scuba diver, mom and pop roto tilling for a garden, metal detectorist, hiker, camper etc., would have to have formal training if the instance ever arises that they may innocently happen upon a relic of the past while doing their normal everyday activities.

True, but the innocent find that wasn't being searched for is less likely to impact the information and record than individuals who do it every weekend as a hobby. Actually, I know a local historic homestead that was excavated by an amateur, and a few of the artifacts recovered were projectile points, found in the same level as the historic stuff in an undisturbed context. Can't say for sure, of course, but I'd bet they ended up there because the occupants of the house picked them up and brought them home from a huge prehistoric site not a half mile away... about 150 years ago or more. It's always happened.

I don't think it would be possible for all treasure hunters to start documenting locations starting tomorrow, but the technology is almost here. I have an application on my phone that gives me GPS, topo maps, and aerial maps at the click of a button, allows me to mark a location with any of about 100 different symbols, and even take a photo of what I've found so it's attached to the location marker. Of course not everyone has a smart phone to use this, but many people who do, aren't aware of it, or just don't bother.

I just don't think that it is a viable argument to say that finding a point in a tobacco field while cutting tobacco deems further investigation. A lone artifact isn't historically significant (imho). Now I do know a spot where the ground was littered with broken points by the dozens, it's now a Walmart that backs a creek. That spot would be worthy of a dig possibly, but I believe the was dirt that was removed in order to build the store. No telling what story that may have told. Gotta love progress. Besides the fact that their aren't enough archae's to work all "possible" sites, their isn't enough funding to research and dig every possible site either. It's a sad but true fact. I love history too and there are so many sites already that have been put off limits by the Feds or state/local because of the historical significance, you guys would be busy for 100 years if you just dug those. The entire world itself is a historical site.

But if the lone artifact can be dated (arrowhead, historic pottery, button, etc.), then it IS historically important. It might not be important enough to list the location as a site, or for an archaeologist to collect and curate the artifact, or display it in a museum. But if it can tell us that at around _____ time period someone was here, and dropped/broke/lost this artifact at this place, then it's helping to fill in the gaps in the archaeological/historic record.

I know we all tend to think "digging" when we think of archaeology, but that's not the point of the profession. The point is the study of historic or prehistoric cultures based on the examination of what they leave behind, whether it's in the ground or not. Our goal isn't just to excavate all known sites. Often, it's to avoid excavation so that future generations, with better technology, can excavate. Or to excavate just enough to verify significance/use and leave the rest to the future generations. The same concept can apply to treasure hunting... if all the sites are emptied in the next few decades, treasure hunting grandchildren of this generation (perhaps with their gps and handheld artifact analysis technologies) will find nothing.

I don't want to take away a treasure hunter's private property finds in my area. But I would love it if they would photo them (or let me), and document on even a basic map where they came from... not so I can run and dig up every homestead in the county, but so I can record on a map that there WAS once a homestead at that location, and estimate the time period it was there. That way, if it unfortunately is destroyed (by chance, by looters, or legally by the landowner), we at least have a record it was there. I want to see this cooperation between archaeologists and honorable treasure hunters nationwide, as is seen in the UK. I want to see an online database of finds, as they have successfully implemented in the UK. The honorable enthusiasts in both our groups could end up happy... it's happened in many places already.

 

[N.J.THer]

With Minelab's new detector coming out next week with built in GPS that is downloadable to google maps it will be even easier to keep track of what was found where.

NJ

 

[Archae33]

It makes me cringe when I see Archie's Disrespecting graves and tombs. The stuff someone had buried with them had religious significance.

Also, please review the incident at Slack Farm (if you haven't already: Slack Farm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) and then tell me it's the archaeologists doing all the disrespecting. We have ethics we have to adhere to, and if we fail to do so, we are shunned/blacklisted. That's pretty good motivation to stick to our ethics... but when the looters/desecrators are treasure hunters, there are few to no repercussions, even if they're caught, socially or professionally. I know of not only grave goods, but skeletons themselves that have been looted from sites even in my own area. I know about these things from treasure hunters who aren't disrespectful jerks, though even they won't tell me who the looters were or sometimes even where the sites were located, out of fear of repercussion.

 

[Hot zone]

I believe it would be better for a child to find an artifact, be able to pick it up and ask, how did this get here. Everything does not need to be organized. Like playing stickball vs little league. At a little league game the action may be in the grandstands. When grown ups get involved to make it yet another "teachable" moment we loose the fun of being a kid. Finding an arrowhead is like that and makes you feel like a kid again. So, finders keepers and no you can't have it! Find your own archae.

 

[Bum Luck]

I believe it would be better for a child to find an artifact, be able to pick it up and ask, how did this get here. Everything does not need to be organized. Like playing stickball vs little league. At a little league game the action may be in the grandstands. When grown ups get involved to make it yet another "teachable" moment we loose the fun of being a kid. Finding an arrowhead is like that and makes you feel like a kid again. So, finders keepers and no you can't have it! Find your own archae.

When it's unimportant enough to be about us, you're right. When a site or object is important, then it's not about us, but society as a whole.

This applies to archeologists as well. Too often they fail to reach out to communities and share their knowledge. I think every kid has a right to discover stuff, like you say - it's a magic moment.

 

[The Raven]

Back at university I studied Archeology under a guy named Alric Faulkner. Very nice guy, but I got the impression that he hated metal detecting for many reasons one being that it left the archeologists with the nails and shards while the detectorists got the silver and copper. I do love archeology and would work in the field if there were jobs. Metal detecting allows me to at least do something of the sort while making a little bit of money off the common coins and jewelry I find to fund my hobby. Guys like Faulkner do make me suspect of archeologists, though
like them I cannot form a blanket opinion of all as I'm some are decent and accepting

Oh.....never heard of the show before now.....but it sounds REALLY awful.

 

[Misplaced]

Hurting our hobbie!

 

[MongoLloyd]

American Diggers is merely one of the more recent attempts to exploit the end result of failed post-war reconstruction. There are an abundance of reality shows doing the same thing. Swamp People. Duck Dynasty. That weirdo bug exterminator guy. Lizard Lick Towing. On and on it goes. Have a drawl? Can do a stupid human trick? Family stump's roots run a little shallow? It is highly probable that someone out there is looking to give you a TV show! I don't see the attraction to hillbilly exploitation shows. Never got in to the WWF and other fake wrestling tripe. Don't prefer to dumb-down in order to partake. With the little TV that I do end up watching, I am quite tired of the heart-attack-in-oversized-Levis, screaming his trademark during every other commercial.

Can't blame the media entirely. When a society insists on dumbing-down, don't expect "Masterpiece Theatre". The media caters to the lowest common denominator.

 

[Iron Maiden]

I don't like it. I saw an episode the other night and one of the guys found a flattened beer can and instead of taking it with him, he threw it across the yard. They also use shovels to dig, when a knife would work just as well. They're giving us "REAL" treasure hunters a bad name!

 

[kshollywood]

The show isnt fake, it is a reinactment of there best finds. The show does suck and the boom baby is stupid, but its not seeded just all reinactments from past finds. Now the getting permission and selling parts are reinacted also but im sure most of that is fake.

 

[Hot zone]

The show isnt fake, it is a reinactment of there best finds. The show does suck and the boom baby is stupid, but its not seeded just all reinactments from past finds. Now the getting permission and selling parts are reinacted also but im sure most of that is fake.

Let's see, it isn't fake but it is stupid and fake!

 

[BigBeefy]

BBBOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM BBAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBAAAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ugh, I can't get that stupid fat head outta mine. One of these days he's going to drop dead in the middle of a "boom".

 

[peralta]

I haven't seen the show but i know its bad by reading your discussions. Someone with a track record should have put it together.

 

[Jason in Enid]

The show isnt fake, it is a reinactment of there best finds. The show does suck and the boom baby is stupid, but its not seeded just all reinactments from past finds. Now the getting permission and selling parts are reinacted also but im sure most of that is fake.

If they had actually gone out and dug these things in the first place, it would be a re-enactment. Their company doesn't exist, it's as fake as the show. They claim to be the "leading recovery company" but NOBODY heard of them before this show. They show them inside "thier" shop, but it's someone elses store. They have a store website with almost nothing for sale and no physical location, just a PO box.

EVERYTHING about this show is fake!

 

[sqzdog]

What do you expect from a wrestler (rastler)

 

[boarman1]

I have only been on this site for a few days and Ill agree with this statement. I have not seen more childish comments . And it sounds like a lot of people just want to be selfish and keep everything to them self. to keep it a secret to look for artifacts and its going to hurt there ability to go to others properties.The show actually made me want to get back out and look for some. My dad took me when I was little and we found plenty so it motivated me to go out and take my son. But I get on this forum and it sounds like a bunch of whining kids fighthing

I will say i like the tv shows .."Diggers & American diggers " .......... You said they have no taste or class in the show.... It seems fine to me ............. They have enought taste & class for me .....They have as much class & taste as most on here...... And i would guess that they on both shows .......Would not look down there noses at others like some here do........... Or make fun of what some look like .............. It seems like a lot here like to make fun of others looks ....... To me that shows no class or taste............

 

[deltamann]

AWFUL and a discrace to us MD'ers everywhere.

 

[Chick Magnet]

Right from the start you know that American Diggers is PURE BS!
They start off saying that they are the largest recovery specialist in the country.
and that the crew are the best diggers in the world?
Says who? oh yeah them.
I have been detecting and treasure hunting for over 30 years.
I have paid my dues with respect to mastering my equipment,
doing research and being out in the field.I could give myself any title
I can come up with but it doesn't make it true.
I do like the concept of the show in that,yes there is endless stuff still left in the ground
to be found and that the newbie should be aware of getting permission to hunt on private property
and to make it look like you were never there after a hunt etc.The value of doing research
and having the right equipment and knowing how to use it.
But this show is so poorly done that I have no respect for it or it's crew.
This show gives our sport a bad name and it is very misleading with it's staged finds.

Anyone out there wanting to become an artifact recovery specialist make sure that you do your homework and
run your plans by a good attorney.Make sure that you have a written contract with
the property owner that has been notarized before you dig.

And don't forget about your taxes.

Sure you can make your hobby a business and write off your equipment and some gas etc.
But anything you find and sell,you owe taxes on it and so does the property owner.
When that dealer buys your stuff,cash or not they keep records for their taxes with your name on it.
Another thing this poorly made show doesn't address.