Archaeologica.org

So, we are just going to ignore the reservoir of artifacts sitting on fireplace mantels as though they don’t exist?

How many are there?
“We don’t know, and don’t want to know!”
How much would they help our current knowledge base?
“We don’t know, and don’t want to know!”

That is a classic closing the barn door after the horse has run.

I am not advocating decriminalizing looting.
Just accepting it as a fact of life.

Once it is out of the dirt you can’t just ignore it.
You can shake your head in sorrow, maybe even cry a little, then suck it up, accept it, and get to work on it.

kbs2244 wrote:So, we are just going to ignore the reservoir of artifacts sitting on fireplace mantels as though they don’t exist?

How many are there?
“We don’t know, and don’t want to know!”
How much would they help our current knowledge base?
“We don’t know, and don’t want to know!”

That is a classic closing the barn door after the horse has run.

I am not advocating decriminalizing looting.
Just accepting it as a fact of life.

Once it is out of the dirt you can’t just ignore it.
You can shake your head in sorrow, maybe even cry a little, then suck it up, accept it, and get to work on it.

Acceptance constitutes decriminalization!!! DUH!!!


What the hell is there to study???

An interesting or pretty artifact??? HMMM...

Where did it come from???
What was found with it???
What was NOT found with it???
Was that single item once part of an assemblage, now split up & sold to different "collectors"???
Were there any ordinary diagnostic artifacts found in the same location, in the same horizon???
Were any materials submitted for C14 analysis???
Were soil samples taken for analysis to check for pollen & phytoliths???
Were any diagnostic pottery fragments checked for traces of substances the broken vessels might have contained???

The questions are innumerable & the answers are non-existent. So what the hell is there to study anyway???

This is becoming a religious argument.

I am bowing out.