Sorry for the delay in posting this, but my mailbox is full and won't let me in the right way. Anita Cohen-Williams; Reference Services; Hayden Library Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1006 PHONE: (602) 965-4579 FAX: (602) 965-9169 INTERNET: [log in to unmask] Owner: HISTARCH, SPANBORD *** Forwarding note from HOFFMAN --CMSNAMES 03/03/95 13:26 *** Return-Path: <[log in to unmask]> Received: from ASUACAD (NJE origin SMTP2@ASUACAD) by ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 6191; Fri, 3 Mar 1995 13:26:20 -0700 Received: from whflemming.hist.lsu.edu by ASUVM.INRE.ASU.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; Fri, 03 Mar 95 13:26:14 MST Received: by whflemming.hist.lsu.edu (NX5.67c/NX3.0M) id AA27169; Fri, 3 Mar 95 14:20:47 -0600 Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 14:20:46 -0600 (CST) From: "Paul E. Hoffman" <[log in to unmask]> To: Anita Cohen-Williams <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Atocha #2 Message-Id: <Pine.NXT.3.91.950303131135.27107B-100000@whflemming> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII This one is for distribution to HISTARCH. Some observations from an historian who has watched the Atocha story at fairly close range and who also understands the value system of archaeologists from long experience with them. The level of indignation that the Atocha story raises suggests that more than a violation of a dearly held professional standard has occurred. Would someone please explain to me how any professional archaeologist would have raised the money needed to hunt for, much less excavate this wreck? And let's put that in the context of the 1970s or 1980s; the 90s are, as we all regret, a time of decreasing funding. Not that Fisher's salesmanship in raising money justifies his actions when you look at methods of excavation, but all those who cry that it should have been left for the professionals have yet to demonstrate how in the world they would pay for professional excavations. Second, having visited Fisher's Key West museum and looked at his prices for coins and compared them with Atocha coins offered for sale in other places in Key West, I can only observe that anyone who buys from Fisher is paying a premium well above the market. Ditto with silver jewelry made from the bars. Same with his emeralds. Perhaps you folks should warn the public.... Third, and here I am sure I open up your flame throwers, where is the indignation at the failure of the pros to use the leverage that the state of Florida once had to get with fisher and direct his efforts into more acceptable paths, rather than simply preach in outrage? Do none of you ever work with amateurs in your crews? It is of note that once fisher did finally listen (and he was stubborn too) and began to map his finds, then and only then did he begin to make progress toward finding the "mother lode" -- how much more "information" might have been obtained had he been befriended early on and shown better ways to do the job, and also preserve the contextual information that is so important for archaeology? And then too, what of any real value would the scatter of the ship's upper works tell us other than how a series of hurricanes can break up a ship and scatter its parts (and their contents) over dozens of square miles? The lowerhull and its contents, which were what was found last -- and apparently examined with some degree of care to record associations etc -- is a different case. I understand that as much care was taken with that as the diving conditions allowed, but haven't seen the report to verify that. If you have been reading this far, you see why I wonder what else is behind all the outrage over the Atocha. And I suggest that ordinary folk, not in the academy and so not plugged into our various subcultural moralisms, will and have asked these questions and many others. We are all better off, I suppose, for the passage of the Historic Shipwrecks Act, but we are not better off because of the federal legal findings that made it necessary, and those findings grew out of an unholy alliance of outraged archaeologists and politicians with rather different agendas (from the archaeologists). Although I don't know any of the principals I gather that the personal chemistry among them had a great deal to do with all of this, and personal chemistry is not a matter of the standards of a discipline. So give me, and the public, a break on all the moralizing. Appropriate members of your guild refused to try to be part of the solution and so became part of the problem. Everyday, professional archaeologists across this country are engaged in "salvage" archaeology of sites they would not have examined except that a bulldozer was working just up the way; that is rather like the situation once Fisher moved onto the right site for the Atocha. Digging in to save what you can from highway construction is not so very different from digging in to guide an amateur in the right direction. Neither is ideal or the way the discipline "ought to function", but I don't hear many of you turning down salvage contracts.... Will there ever be a final report on the Atocha that addresses some of the concerns for excavation data that have been heard on this list? My sources say one is being prepared, so maybe we should wait and see. As for the artifacts, who exactly is going to study the ways in which the hand held dies were struck on all those coins, and why? The unique pieces should be available for study in public museums, I quite agree; but any chance of that was lost in the legal food fight in Florida, and it is clear that Fisher did not start that one (although he did win it). Adelante!