On Thu, 18 May 2000, COLIN VARLEY wrote:

>Please, can we leave this kind of name calling and personal grudgery out
>of the discussion group.  I don't know who Dr. Gott is so I can
>only assume that his readership and international influence is
>minimal and fleeting.  Most of us have better things to worry about.

>Thanks in advance.

I think that it is this kind of head-in-the-sand, almost Pollyanna-like
attitude that has gotten archaeologists into the mess that we find
ourselves in now. I'm currently working on a site which has gained a fair
amount of reginal notoriety, and one particular activist, whose influence
may even be minimal and fleeting, has managed to convince a sizable
portion of the local population that we are doing nothing but looting
Native American burials and selling the artifacts at local flea markets.
And he has managed to do this with out the considerable power of a
synidcated advice column.  If we, as archaeologists, truly want the public
to be our partners in historic preservation, not only must we take
advantage of every opportunity for public education, but we must battle
public MIS-education vigilantly and mercilessly.

Dan Marcel
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