Jurretta- I agree about education- I have often thought that some of the
critics of relic hunters would find that, if they showed up at an
association meeting and shared their expertise, the relic hunters would be
receptive. After all, most of them are into it because they love the
history. Many of them go to great lenths to document an ID disc or a named
artifact. They sure don't like the way that the archaeologists in Va act,
tho- I guess it's the combination of snobbery and righteousness that seems
to manifest itself whenever they talk about relic hunters. If they could set
up a program documenting finds in the old relic hunting areas that are
already developed, I think the info would be very helpful in answering a lot
of the Civil War research questions that modern researchers are asking about
things like camps, fortifications, and skirmishes. And if they could
encourage relic hunters to document their finds for future reference, that
would be very helpful as well. But that would require a committment of time
and energy on the part of the archaeologists. Lets just say that I'm
skeptical that this would ever happen. As far as a law concerning artifact
recovery, who would be recovering the artifacts? The archaeologists most
times won't even look at it unless they're paid, so the law would serve no
purpose unless the relic hunters would be allowed to do it. Actually, relic
hunters from the No Va Relic Hunting Ass'n have participated in artifact
recovery projects before, such as the one around the Stone House on the
Bull Run battlefield, or the grave finding project at Bristoe Station, but
they don't get asked very often -Barrett
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jurretta Heckscher" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 08, 2006 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Archaeology and Relic Hunting in Virginia
I am just catching up with this thread now--pardon the delay.
Excuse the attention to a non-Virginia topic, but the news about
defacement of petroglyphs is appalling--truly upsetting.
I spent a fair amount of time in New Mexico when I had two sisters
living there, and I remember the fight over preserving a petroglyph
area that was threatened by the insatiable sprawl of Albuquerque
westward about 10 years ago. Never heard the outcome of that one.
For petroglyphs, the answer would seem to be some kind of federal law,
with teeth. And enforcement--armed, if necessary. The loss of
petroglyphs is a national tragedy.
For CW stuff here in VA, it would be great to think we could get a law
obliging developers to allow time for recovery of artifacts before the
bulldozers move in, but of course that's an absurd wish, given the part
of the legislature's figurative anatomy that developers have firmly in
their grasp.
Maybe the best we can hope for is better education and a greater sense
of responsibility to historical knowledge among "relic hunters," so
that they document their findings appropriately, as some on this list
have suggested? After all, the HABS/HAER project that has so
wonderfully documented American architecture and engineering
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/) doesn't save the
places it documents; it merely records them, which becomes all the more
precious if they are subsequently destroyed.
--Jurretta
On Apr 16, 2006, at 9:13 PM, qvarizona wrote:
> You made a good argument, Barrett. And you are correct, there is no
> comparing ancient petroglyphs to a Civil War belt-buckle.
> --Joanne
>
>
>
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