There's a lot of talk here recently about how important some people believe a certificate of authenticity is to them.... The idea that it is very important to preserve provenance to them.
I think it probably goes without saying that the most important artifacts to those individuals are the ones they personally found in there home area.... That brings me to the question do these people get COA's on their personal finds?
I know I don't... I never intend to sell... Instead I document the pertinent information and keep finds together by site... And plan on making a.very well documented donation to a local organization at some point.
Getting someone's opinion on and artifacts authenticity can happen tomorrow or 100 years from now that makes no difference especially after something has spent sometimes thousands of years in the ground already.
So if the paperwork is not associated with buying and selling then surely there should be likely more documentation associated with personal finds then the others.. For some reason I doubt that is the case.
Sounds good though.
Once an artifact has been separated from first ... Its original location as part of a site collection then as often happens removed from its original state of origin... It's essentially become completely isolated and its value at least archaeologically has all but disappeared.
At that point... and this is my opinion there's not much left except the novelty and the value of it as a conversation piece.
OK, not picking a fight at all:
I primarily hunt plowed fields; there's bound to be a little lateral displacement from agricultural activities, but worst is the potential for damage. I shudder to think of a great point that next year gets hit by the plow or disc and breaks. It's gone forever.
The top 7 or so inches of tilled soil has lost any context that could be there.
I do keep records in the form of maps, and keep the map and finds together. As a matter of fact, I usually collect everything - chips, broken points, and all; since I think that could give someone a snapshot of what went on there. It's probably not more than 1/200th of the lithics, so it's not like I'm removing a lot of context, but I think there's a statistical value in the bag I end up with - labeled and with a sketch map. Rock types, heat treated or not, skill in working; it's all important. Good finds I use a GPS and get a coordinate pair for them.
I would argue that it's rescue archaeology of a sort. Others are collecting and that's being lost. Plows will break the points and scatter the pieces. I've never found all or both the pieces of a broken point. There's a value in that; I can't see the difference between that and what an archie would do, except my maps are better. And I've been there, and they likely won't be.
I don't dig context stuff; only surface collect. And I don't sell.
So then, is that an improvement over casual collecting? The only difference I can see is a degree in anthro and the bags are in a different basement. Eventually, they will be in a museum of some sort. Or, they can be re-scattered and plowed back and forth again.
