And the esteemed Archaelogist will spout the tired mantra: "A single coin can date a whole site, and THEY are removing them"
Of course you and I BOTH know the real reason is esteem and prestige that they lose when some guy with a HS education beats them to a fantastic discovery.
And the sad fact remains that their real motivation is the threat of losing territory to "rank amateurs" So they take advantage of their University/Government connections to sway regulations in their favor and villify all those who DARE touch THEIR artifacts and don't have a bunch of letters behind their names.
Spooky, that statement carries a modern treasure hunter's sentiments that I fully embrace as well.
Now then, there must be a country or countries somewhere in the world that are more treasure-hunter friendly. Maybe in the Caribbean, or somewhere in the Pacific? A country that doesn't have a big lobby of snobby archies?
There must be some nations out there that would see a profitable side to dealing directly with amateur treasure hunters.
Lets outline the benefits, shall we?
1.) Archies don't have the manpower or time to follow every treasure story out there. For one thing, a lot of these stories are shrouded in folk-lore and end up being a wild goose chase. The amateur treasure hunter has the time and willingness to pursue these because they're free to do so. They don't have to report to anyone or justify spending "x amount of money" on a fruitless treasure chase. Furthermore, we travel either solo or in small groups, and we don't have to pay anyone to dig up an area for us, we do it ourselves. This = cost savings for the government.
2.) When one of "us" spends money on said fruitless treasure chase, it doesn't cost the government anything. We fund the costs out of our own pocket.
3.) Most treasure sits buried for eons, if we don't find it, chances are that it will lie in the dirt for ages and then nobody will benefit from it. The current generation and the next one, and so forth, will pass and that "history" that the archies are so worried about will sit there for the benefit of no one.
4.) If a government was to honestly and fairly deal with TH's then more history would be recovered and shared with the public(instead of being secretly sold off). The government could get a cut of the loot as well. It would be free money for them, money that they otherwise would have never made because they would have had no knowledge of the loot if it wasn't for us. Win-win situation.
Feel free to add to this list.
