A-ha - I see. I mistook the previous discussion of Spike's American 
Diggers with NatGeo's Diggers. I thought they were one and the same.

Mike

On 3/22/2012 1:35 PM, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>
>
>
> From: NASA (National  Association of State Archaeologists)
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf  Of Doershuk, John F
> Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2012 12:19  PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [NASA] Report on Spike  TV's "American Diggers"
>
> Dear  Colleagues:
> I watched the premiere  episode of Spike TV's "American Diggers" broadcast
> yesterday evening. Happily,  it was just a 30-minute episode, which they
> immediately repeated. I scanned  ahead a bit on the channel guide and it
> appears Spike typically reruns shows  heavily, so the same episode aired at
> midnight and will run again every day  this week. This episode was shot in Alaska,
> next week’s program was shot in  Detroit. As is the case with most TV these
> days it was  chock full of ads  (more on these, below), so I doubt there
> was more than 18 minutes or so of  content, especially since they repeat prior
> bits after an advertising block to  remind the viewer of the storyline. The
> intro segment to the show describes  the intent of the series, and it is
> unabashedly as the Internet advertising  indicated: find historical objects,
> ignore context, sell for profit.  Very entrepreneurial and a premise that is
> hard to argue with, after all,  isn't a basic principle of America the right
> for all to exploit everything  they can to earn a living?
> The cast of "American  Diggers"  includes a crew of four headed by Ric
> Savage, who was center  stage throughout, with the other three really filling
> minor roles. Savage is  an ebullient larger-than-life character but no fool.
> Interestingly, one of his  crew, identified only as "Bob," was labeled as a “
> battlefield historian” while  the other, younger crew members were simply
> muscle. Otherwise, they were all  self-styled “diggers” with "let's dig!"
> being their byline. In this first  episode they limited themselves to using
> metal detectors and hand tools (they  were exploiting Alaska gold rush-era
> camps) but the intro segment shows that  backhoes, jackhammers, and even high
> explosives will be used in future  episodes. Savage and his crew joke around
> some, but the buffoonery that  characterized Natl Geo's "Diggers" was
> missing. Savage is portrayed as a man  in serious pursuit of his passion – i.e.,
> digging up and selling historical  objects. He claims his passion is finding
> history and holding it in his hands,  but as with "Diggers," "American
> Diggers" falls well short of communicating  any sort of "discovery rush."
> Unfortunately, the "rush" provided by the show  was most evident when Savage sells
> the items recovered at the antique mart and  "the past" gets translated into
> cash. True to his word, Savage shared the take  with the property owner
> (70/30 split with the landowner getting the smaller  amount)—and the producer
> made sure the camera caught the enthusiasm blossoming  in the face of the
> landowner when Savage handed over the money. You could  literally see the wheels
> turning—that's a landowner who will never think of  cultural resources on
> their property as something to preserve. So even though  Savage and the
> "American Diggers" crew came and went relatively quickly, that  landowner (and
> everyone he talks with in the area) will be thinking $$ for  objects.
> There was zero mention of  archaeology or science, and no effort made at
> all trying to legitimate this  activity as anything remotely educational or
> additive to general knowledge.  The term "artifacts" was used as Savage
> characterizes his firm as an "artifact  recovery company." The recent New York
> Times article published March 20 on the  show indicates that Rita Savage, Ric's
> wife, researches "the historical record  of an area, compar[ing] period
> maps with contemporary maps" but this activity  (and Rita) did not make it into
> the program. Savage did describe the gold  rush-era landscape they were
> interested in from an informed perspective and  had a good idea about where to
> target his metal detecting. Given the lack of  concern the show has for
> documenting findings, it is in my opinion just as  well the archival research
> efforts were not portrayed and I’m glad there was  no attempt made cast the
> show as science of any sort.
> As I noted for "Diggers,"  the most damaging thing about "American Diggers"
>   is that no effort is  made to document where anything came from and there
> is no discussion of  associations—each discovered item was handled
> piece-meal. "The past" and  "history" were repeatedly invoked as cool and
> interesting, but ultimately,  simply a source of cash. And cash, in the end, is what
> this show is about,  just as with “Diggers.” With “American Diggers,” Savage
> is about finding  thousands of dollars’ worth of objects whereas the Natl
> Geo guys were  happy with recovering just hundreds of dollars. Spike TV is,
> of course,  involved because of advertising revenue. Here's the "American
> Diggers"  advertiser list: Subway, DQ, Chilis, Red Robin, Red Lobster, Arbys,
> Taco Bell,  Best Western, GEICO, Esurance, Quaker State, Reeses, Cheetos, FOX
> Channel,  other Spike TV shows, Nintendo, several current movies, and
> Internet Explorer  9. Quite a mix (and as noted, volume), but notably no cell
> phone companies,  upscale cars, or premium beer (in fact, contrary to my
> expectations, no beer  ads at all which amply demonstrates the target audience is
> not  archaeologists), so rather different that the Natl Geo “Diggers”
> advertising  clientele.
> Here's the most ironic—and  telling—observation I can offer: Savage
> recognizes that linking an object to  its broader historical context increases
> collector interest and the monetary  value of items his crew recovers. For
> example, he knows a Civil War sword is  more valuable than a sword with no
> period or conflict association and that a  Confederate Civil War sword has even
> more value, and particular battlefield or  officer association would really
> up the ante. However, he does not participate  in recording any contextual
> detail for the finds he makes. Thus, he uses—and  profits from—the accrued
> historical knowledge base that has built up through  time about these objects
> but doesn't in turn contribute. Rather, he tears  individual items out of
> context and then injects them into a collector market  where he excitedly
> discusses probable age, maker's marks, and condition with  the buyer but there
> is no effort made to communicate the locational details of  the discovery or
> associations between items or the landscape from which they  came. So just
> as the value of a newly purchased car diminishes as soon as one  drives off
> the lot, the items Savage recovers diminish in potential cash value  (and
> knowledge value) as soon as he sells and the scant contextual details are
> eroded or lost. Exclamations of “this is really rare!” fail to trigger in
> Savage’s mind thoughts of “we should learn all we can about this context as we
> destroy it recovering this item.” The show certainly doesn’t attempt to
> prompt  such thinking by its viewers. Each subsequent buyer of these items
> knows less  and less as there are no accompanying data communicated about where
> and with  what the item was found. So the big problem with the “American
> Diggers”  approach is that artifacts rapidly become mere collectibles, not
> necessarily  without cash value, but in fact "worth" far less than they might
> be if their  full contextual story was recorded and transmitted/preserved
> from  seller to buyer.
> Dick (and others receiving  this report), if you are so inclined, please
> feel free to use whatever portion  of this information you like to continue
> conversations—now informed rather  than speculative—with Spike TV (and send
> to Fred Limp at SAA and others if you  like); I'll be sharing this report on
> the ACRA list.
> John  Doershuk
> State Archaeologist  (Iowa)
>
>
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