I'm glad this has been brought up because it's been
bugging me for some time, and I'm very curious to hear
a dialogue regarding it. Is it ethical to use
information derived from collectors of 'looted'
artifacts? It's a question that has been going on in,
for example, Maya archaeology, for years, where many
archaeologists refuse to use data derived from
analysis of unprovenienced artifacts. Now I know that
most collectors you find on the Internet do not get
out and dig privies, but, as I'm sure everyone here is
aware, there are some that do, and that then offer
unsourced 'dates' for artifacts that are often
inaccurate. Just yesterday I found a list of button
back marks that at first looked handy but actually (a)
came from a metal detecting website, (b) gave no
sources for the dates, and (c) may not actually be
right. It makes me very uncomfortable when I see stuff
(had to edit myself) like this (or Digger Odell) used
as a potential point of reference for archaeological
research.

How do others feel about this? And how can we, as
archaeologists, fight the proliferation of 'amateur
privy digging' websites and self-proclaimed experts?

Thanks, Ron, for bringing this up. And I agree, I
would certainly never want to give money or any sort
of reference implying legitimacy to active amateur
'diggers'.

D. Ryan Gray
(who's really upset these days about bottle hunters in
his town, if that's not obvious)
Earth Search, Inc.


--- Ron May <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Well Carol, Since you are advertising the message to
> the entire board (what,
> about 800 people?), my question to the profession is
> whether or not we should
> do business with the enemy. I am not concerned what
> the bottle hunters think
> of me, but what archaeologists think. None the less,
> their information could be
> quite valuable. I have no problem with buying a book
> by a collector, but if
> buying a book helps pay gas money for some ignoramus
> (Bobby, notice how I
> Italicized this 'word") to drive out to dig more
> bottles on historic sites, then I
> do see a problem.
>
> Ron May
> Legacy 106, Inc.
>


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