Linda (this responds to both of your postings -- the one about museums doing
dig boxes and the one about becoming involved in other history-related
professional organizations)...you're right on the mark...instead of just
whinging about how non-archaeologists talk about/teach archaeology, you're
going out there and actually DOING something about it.....and in the process
starting some very useful dialogues with people (museum curators,
interpreters, etc.) who are actually in a position to act on your input.

well done!

carol mcdavid


----- Original Message -----
From: "Linda Derry" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: treasure hunting


> To answer your question:  "am i alone in getting annoyed when all the work
> we do is reduced to
> 'treasure hunting' even by the people who should know better?"  No of
course
> not!  However, I think this harkens back to a previous thread about
crossing
> discipline divides (rather than just talking to ourselves.  One way to
> approach this problem may be to start showing up at the conferences for
> Museum types and "preach" a bit.  For example,  my pet peeve is the "dig
> boxes" that are showing up in natural history museums in my area.  Kids
are
> encouraged, as a hand's on exercise, to dig for artifacts in a basically
> unsupervised "treasure hunt."  So,... I'm considering going to my state
> museum association's annual meeting and offering a workshop to explain the
> concerns of archaeologists in this matter and to model some alternative
> hands-on activities or,.... if they just have to have a dig box, suggest
> alternative approaches.   Mostly, I just want the curators to be aware of
> the concerns about dig boxes being expressed within the archaeological
> community.   If they are not aware of these discussions, we as
> archaeologists must bear some responsibility because we are so insular
with
> our concerns.
>
> Linda Derry, Director
> Old Cahawba - AHC
> 719 Tremont St.
> Selma, AL 36701 - 5446
> ph. 334/875-2529 / email: [log in to unmask]
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of geoff
> carver
> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2001 8:43 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: treasure hunting
>
>
> just outside my window there's an advertising pillar of the type quite
> common
> here in europe - it just stands there, waiting for someone to change the
> posters
> glued onto it -
>         right now it's advertising an exhibition called "treasures from X"
> (not
> going to bother with the country, it's not important) being shown at our
> local
> state museum of archaeology -
>         am i alone in getting annoyed when all the work we do is reduced
to
> "treasure hunting" even by the people who should know better? the museum
> here is
> tied in with the state archaeological service (excavation is a state
> monopoly,
> with all that that entails); which has no standing exhibits (partly
because
> of
> want of a permanent venue), and tends otherwise to glamourise the whole
> thing
> into a fairly empty bunch of superlatives: the oldest this, the earliest
> that...
>         i was also annoyed about 2 years ago when some of my finds were
> described on a poster as "treasures from a latrine" -
>         is this a general archaeological problem (assumption that all the
> [assumed] stupid public wants to see is/are treasures), laziness on the
part
> of
> curators, a general unwillingness to communicate with the public...?
>         i'm not going to suggest that the public really likes this kind of
> stuff
> because they flock to erich von daniken readings but for the most part
stay
> away from serious museum exhibits...
>         any ideas/comments?
>
>
> geoff carver
> http://home.t-online.de/home/gcarver/
> [log in to unmask]