I believe Time Team will be great for all of us. Many years ago, Tom King
made a pitch to archaeologists across California that we needed to go forth
into the community with a marketing strategy to whip the public up into a
froth that archaeology is good, important, and fun for all. I got my chance
when the building industry attacked archaeology in 1979 with an assembly
bill that would have stripped it out of our environmental law or severely
limited the money a developer had to pay to mitigate impacts. As a group of us
hired a lobbyist to orchestrate a steady flow of news clippings on
archaeology to our legislators, I got invited to a Navy base and swiftly learned
they wanted to dig a hole near the rumored ruins of a Spanish fort to
install a plaque/monument. I got them to apply for an Antiquities Permit thinking
we would never quality. Much to my surprise, we got the permit. Then I got
the newspapers all frothed up on the idea of a "lost Spanish fort" about
to be found. I fed the news media the names of all the civilian financial
backers, organizers, and support organizations (after advising them and
working out what people might say). The newspaper published a half page story
and we had over 100 people on the site the first day, along with at least 3
TV stations. We hit Spanish wall material by 9 am and the discovery was on
the wire services by Noon. Then the Navy brass came down to see the Spanish
tiles and sent their media people. For two weeks, it was a media frenzy and
my employer was not at all happy (because this was not their project). We
kept the attention of the news media for the entire 16-years I ran that
dig. Now Seth Mallios is doing the same sort of marketing to the media with
his Whaley House well and privy investigation next to Old Town State Historic
Park.
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
In a message dated 7/24/2009 4:36:55 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
've been following this thread with interest - it's been quite the
debate covering many different bases. One thing that stood out to me
is the question of how to connect with the public. I'm not sure how
well we can gauge public interest based off the comments on the NY
Times article; it's likely to be heavily laced with privy diggers and
bottle collectors who see archaeologists are infringing on their
hobby. Leaving aside the question of dealing with privy/cellar
diggers and metal-detectorist who dig for "relics" for fun and profit,
how about the question of connecting with the interested guy in the
street? One opportunity is through the new Time Team America program
on PBS. Love it or hate it it's an opening. For example, on the
website for the show there are pages for each episode where people can
leave comments and questions. One individual, Frank Antonson, left
the following comment on the page for the recent show:
"I have watched the "New Philadelphia" episode of Time Team America
and would like to know if a site in Central Pennsylivania is worthy of
research. The site is of the Oppenheimer (pronounced locally the old
way with a long "O") iron mine works. It may be viewed roughly on
google earth at 151 Camp Ranch Lane, 15522. It is extensive, but
forgotten, and dates from 1884.
I own the property and know it well. As I watched the Philadelphia
episode, I thought that the site I know of would be so much more
productive and yet equally unknown. Please let me know if there is
anyone who would be willing to correspond with me on this matter.
Frank Antonson"
How about it? It's a little outside of both my geographic area and my
area of interest, but are there any industrial archaeologists who'd be
interested in giving the guy a few minutes? I know funding is always
a problem, but having a site owned by a sympathetic and interested
landowner could be a good start of a research project.
I've been trying to come up with other ideas to leverage both Time
Time America and similar shows - for example, there's the possiblity
of a "watch party" at a local library where the public would be
invited to watch some episode that's locally pertinent (I'm currently
in North Carolina, so the Fort Raleigh episode would work here) with
the opportunity to have any questions answered by a practicing
archaeologist afterwards. I know not everyone has the time or
inclination to do such a thing, and that's fine, but for those who
enjoy interacting with an interested public there are some real
opportunities we (as archaeologists) may be missing out on. And a
roomful of people who are there because they genuinely want to know
more about archaeology has got to beat day-in-day-out angry land-
owners and indifferent construction project managers, right?
Just a few thoughts from someone who's still fairly new to the field
(seems like I should exploit my own enthusiasm while I have the time
and energy).
Jonathan
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