Archaeologists Protest 'Glamorization' of Looting on TV

[Melvadius]

We have discussed or mentioned the impact of the UK Portable Antiquities Scheme several times on this site as something which gives an outlet for metal detectorists and others more accidental discoverers of items of histric value to have the find professionally recorded and a database built up which can be used for archaeological and histrical benefit. Incidentlally allowing the discovers to sometimes receive significant montetary awards while allowing museums a chance to purchase significant items in preference to them disappearing into private hands.

 

PAS mentions include: Frome hoard (item 7) and Bronze Age axe hoard

 

A recent news article in ScienceInsider from 'across the pond' paints an entirely different and more worrying image of how sites are effectively being stripped by TV sponsored 'vandals' in the USA without anywhere near the same control or ultimate historical benefit.

 

Archaeologists are mounting a campaign against two new cable TV shows that they say encourage and glamorize looting of American archaeological sites.

 

On 20 March, Spike TV will premiere a new show called American Digger, while a show called Diggers on the National Geographic Channel made its debut 28 February. Both shows "promote and glorify the looting and destruction of archaeological sites," Society for American Archaeology (SAA) President William F. Limp wrote in a message posted earlier this week to the SAA listserv.

 

The premise of American Digger, which is being hosted by a former professional wrestler, was laid out in a recent announcement by Spike TV. A team of "diggers" will "scour target-rich areas, such as battlefields and historic sites, in hopes of striking it rich by unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history." Similar locales are featured in National Geographic's Diggers. In the second episode, set in South Carolina, Revolutionary War and War of 1812 buttons, bullets, and coins were recovered at a former plantation.

 

After viewing the first two episodes of Diggers, Iowa's State archaeologist John Doershuk posted a review to the American Cultural Resources Association listserv, in which he lamented: "The most damaging thing, I think, about this show is that no effort was made to document where anything came from or discussion of associations

[caesar novus]

I could only stand about 2 seconds of the promo for the Smithsonian show just on entertainment value alone, so expect that will just run a few shows and die a natural death. Reality shows are spreading like cancer due to ratings, but that one looked like one of the frequent reject experiments. And almost nobody watches the over-the-top Spike network.

 

There isn't much of monetary value buried in US except for Spanish treasure ships sunken off Florida, and for reasons I don't understand the silver and gold seems to all get reclaimed by Spain without even paying a removal fee. Oh, confederate artifacts from the Civil war can be valuable, but not without provenance. A digger can't provide provenance to distinguish his item from the vast majority of faked confederate items (even the originals often crudely made so cannot be distinguished by inspection).

 

The Naked Archeologist did a show claiming the great majority of important archeo finds in Israel were done illegally by amateurs. They tried to show the loss of context info was overridden by the benefits. The approved diggers were way too slow and didn't know where to look except when following the amateurs. They acknowledged the highly professional theft rings were a problem, and even that their whole thesis was debatable.

 

I think the worst part is diggers targeting just outside the boundary of historical parks. Recent finds have shown history taking place a bit offset from the preserved park, and the periphery is open to digging up stuff that is of great historical but not monetary value. Maybe American archeologists need a kick like this into a preservaton mindset. In my region, a museum was berated into returning artifacts to supposed native descendants who then secretly reburied it. The museum director who tried to sue for return was fired. Not an isolated case.

Edited March 10, 2012 by caesar novus