Bill Lockhart's statement on bottle collectors brings back memories of the
vicious attacks the professional archaeological community launched against
those underwater archaeologists who tried hard to find ways to work with
treasure salvors on wrecks, so that at least as much technical information
as possible was gathered.
The salvors, like the bottle collectors Bill mentions, were doing what the
law allowed them to do. Those archaeologists to tried to recover as much
data as they could under the circumstances should be commended.
I see the two issues as one and the same, and I would rather have -- under
whatever the exisiting laws allow -- some cooperatively gathered and
exchanged information than no information.
Carl Barna
Lakewood, CO