On Mon, 16 Jan 1995, Pat Reynolds wrote:
 
> Let us also share our good stories: the ones about the detector
> owners who volunteer to survey spoil heaps for example.
 
YES!  We need to be careful as professional archaeologists to draw
distinctions in our discussions and comments about the difference between
"looters" and the interested "non-professional" community.  Although I
might draw some heated comments for this perspective, I have had a great
deal of success working with local collectors who casually get dumped in
with "pothunters" -- both on historic and prehistoric sites.  Over the
past year, I have had over 1200 hours of volunteer labor from so-called
"amateur archaeologists" in excavation and lab processing of artifacts
from sites that were NOT protected by federal or state law in Tennessee
and were in the process of being completely destroyed by construction.
Many of these individuals took personal vacation days from work so that they
could help us "professionals" salvage information from early historic
sites and prehistoric sites.  In several instances, these sites were
identified and brought to professional attention by these very same
"amateurs."  Some of these people are surface-collectors and "treasure
hunters" who have enough knowledge, education, and good sense to report
important finds and to keep good records on their own.
 
While I cannot condone casual digging of artifacts by untrained
individuals on archaeological sites, I do think that the careless
comments and (sometimes) arrogance of professional archaeologists
alienates people who are not trained as professional archaeologists, but
nonetheless have contributed, want to contribute more, and will
contribute their personal time to "save" information under professional
direction.  In at least three instances I can think of in the past year
here, these same surface collectors -- after reporting their finds AND
GETTING A RESPONSE from the local professional community -- managed to
muster enough local community support that the proposed construction was
stopped, redesigned, or otherwise modified to preserve portions of the
site under threat.  Between teaching, research, and other
responsibilities, I certainly don't have much time to spare to run a
"save the So-and-So Site" campaign -- many of these "amateurs" did.
 
There are plenty of real looters and vandals out there in the world, but
from my perspective, professional archaeologists need to be just a tad
more careful in their "generic condemnations" -- professional
archaeologists are few and far between in most places, and have too
little local public/political influence to save or salvage things from
the sites that are not threatened by government-sponsored projects.
 
No flame on the previous post intended -- just some personal suggestions
about a great need to educate, involve, and provide opportunities for
those folks who were too smart to risk their families on an
archaeologist's salary!
 
Kevin E. Smith
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro TN  37132
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