The original point IS the anti-intellectual tone of the article and some of
the comments posted by readers, and the fact that many people on this forum
have similar stories of collectors/bottle hunters/public/etc. being
disdainful toward archaeologists. Someone wondered why this was so
and opinions were expressed. Some of them off-track, yes, but I think mostly
it is a discussion of how the public views archaeology. If an article with
those overtones can be published in a paper as widely read as the NYT, then
it seems to be a fairly large problem, not just one bottle hunter and one
journalist. We can't escape the fact that (much of) the American public does
not understand what we do, why we do it, or what it means to them. The way
to change this is through education and better public outreach, but who has
the budget and time to take on such a daunting task?


On Thu, Jul 23, 2009 at 12:12 PM, Ron May <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I find this entire discussion incredible. Just because a bottle hunter and
> the journalist made archaeologists look bad does not prove Americans in
> general  are anti-intellectual. The story got traction for an odd set of
> circumstances  that no one thought to investigate. What if the journalist
> jumps
> fences, cuts  locks, and rips through privies in a Ninja warrior outfit in
> the
> dead of night?  You folks are using this forum to reach deeply into
> religion, alleged class  beliefs, and even attack Obama as a "communist." I
> think
> you are all way off  track and need to return to the original point or move
> on to something more  productive.
>
> Ron May
> Legacy 106, Inc.
>
>
>