In a message dated 3/27/2007 12:45:44 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:





A funny thing about archaeologists is their swift willingness to dismiss  
folklore as fantasy. I specifically recall all the emphatic dismissals I  
received during my enquiries about a concealed hat and boot behind a fireplace  in a 
1904 barracks building in 1999 (the subject of a paper at the 2000 SHA  
Conference). Over the past few days, I have received a half dozen replies that  send 
me to amateur websites written by skeptics who delight in dismissing Oak  
Island as fantasy and a monument to ill advised treasure-hunting. All I really  
wanted to know was if anyone on HISTARCH knew of professional archaeology  
investigations on Oak Island. Sheesh. 
 
However, I did receive one reply from someone who I believe will look into  
whatever facts exist. My thinking is the camps of the various expeditions over  
the past 200-years would be interesting to investigate. Assuming the island  
owners would allow it, survey by professional archaeologists and mapping all 
the  equipment, camps, artifact scatters mining locations, and running soil  
transitivity meters and other technical devices could prove to be a fascinating  
venture. What, I ponder, would ground penetrating radar detect? Just the  
archival records of the various island owners, oral histories, correspondence,  
and other data would be interesting to just about anyone who knows the legend.  
Shoot, it would make for a great tourist heritage site and a source of income 
 for the locals.
 
So why dismiss it out of hand? I can only conclude that archaeologists are  a 
strange lot, me included.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.



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