GPS coordinates

[czyuma]

E-Mail Article by Marc Austin


Archaeologists argue that metal detectorists and treasure hunters do great damage to historic sites, because items removed from their context, lose their meaning. A gold ring becomes a trinket in a display case without a story or a hi-story. Whereas that same gold ring, when you learn who lost it and when, becomes more meaningful.

I tend to agree with the archaeologists. Despite the fact that I created and run TreasureNet, I think it's preferable, when possible, to leave things in the ground until more accurate and thorough recovery methods can be used.

I probably haven't spoken out enough against unbridled, haphazard metal detecting / treasure hunting. Well, I'm here to say it. Please respect sensitive historic and archaeological sites. Small unmeaningful trinkets to a metal detectorist, can have great meaning to the future historian who is trying to piece together the history of an area. Each artifact is the piece to a bigger puzzle, and we should all try to work together to protect the pieces. (BTW - scanning and posting are an AWESOME way to do this...)

So - I'm creating a new finds database. This database will be much more sophisticated than any before it, allowing users to upload images, input GPS coordinates of where they found the item(s) and more. This information will be regularly logged to DVD for backup, and these finds DVD's will be available for sale to any research firm wanting one, including Universities.

By giving treasure hunters an online tool to track and record their finds, I hope to do my part in seeing that the pieces of the puzzle are preserved, AND disseminated.

I think archaeologists and metal detectorists can happily co-exist, but metal detectorists need to do their part to preserve the history and context of what they find. I'll do my best to make the finds database easy to use, and useful.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. And dig responsibly. :-)

Marc Austin


Marc has a good plan for this and over the last Seven years I have been recording my finds on an image map along with the GPS coordinates of most of my finds.

The following three images are of the area I spent about 300 hours detecting along with my fellow detectorists. Most Relics and 1850?s period finds were from this location. I also have a good documented second location I will relate another time.




Hope you enjoy the Images. HH :- Mike in Yuma

 

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[kdoe]

Question, Who catalogues the artifacts in the archaeologist collection. If you know, can I get
the GPS coordinates?

 

[wreckdiver1715]

Marc, first I would like to applaud your efforts and desire to track artifacts to aid archaeologist in preserving the past. I too think that preserving the past is important. However, I have to respectively disagree with the premise that detectorists and treasure hunters don?t seem to care about the story that goes with the artifact, and are engaged in the willful destruction of sensitive historic sites.
While this may be the case for a percentage of the un-educated or un-caring folks out in the field, it has been my experience that (at least for the folks I have met along the way), most spend countless hours doing the research and documenting there every significant find. In addition they spend lots of cash and time to preserve the finds. I for one, always carry a GPS and a digital camera when I treasure hunt as basic tools of the trade.
Part of the reason that I visit this web site is to find and share information with like minded individuals who are interested in finding, documenting and preserving the past.
It?s bad enough that we have the likes of Bob Ballard out there telling the world that every find should be left as it is found, let?s not do it to our selves as well or for sure the bleeding hearts will have all our detectors outlawed.