According to the story Unearthed War Relics See Battle Again", by Brigid Schulte in the Washington Post, relic hunting has taken a whole new turn on the Civil War battlefield sites of Virginia, in a technique referred to in the story as a 'safari dig'. More than 200 individuals in the group called "Diggin' in Virginia" each paid a couple of hundred dollars to be able to use their metal detectors on private farmsteads where Civil War battles are known to have taken place. Each collector took home their collections, and used the Internet to post photographs of the day and artifacts.
Diggin in Virginia V (and yes, that means this is the fifth event) was held the weekend of March 24-26, 2006. Their online literature states that "Diggin' In Virginia (DIV) is an invitational hunt dedicated to the ideals of friendship, fun and the proper recovery/identification of historical artifacts", and there are five galleries of photographs and a long discussion about the Washington Post article on their website. The bulletin board there makes for interesting reading, as does the discussion on the mostly-professional Historical Archaeology discussion list HistArch, because there appear to be points at which a compromise may be reached between the professional archaeologist and relic hunter.
If archaeologists are interested in preserving the past, and since legislation stopping the DIV and allied groups has failed and probably will continue to fail, we ought to be working with these perfectly legal relic hunters to improve their recording process, to teach them what archaeology can tell us of the Civil War and to instill an understanding of the preservation ethic. I realize that this will not be a widely accepted answer, and there are problems with finding funding, as Vergil Noble points out, but the educational and knowledge aspects of being able to conduct even a small targeted survey would be wonderful.
While this may sound somewhat pie-in-the-sky, similar property rights battles have been fought in Texas, in response to which the Texas Historical Commission developed the Archaeology Stewards Program to record amateur collections and educate relic hunters. I have no doubt that the painstaking archaeological method of recovery does not hold the same level of exhiliration as running rampant over a hillside. But think what a trained archaeologist could do with 200 eager volunteers over a weekend.
Diggin in Virginia V (and yes, that means this is the fifth event) was held the weekend of March 24-26, 2006. Their online literature states that "Diggin' In Virginia (DIV) is an invitational hunt dedicated to the ideals of friendship, fun and the proper recovery/identification of historical artifacts", and there are five galleries of photographs and a long discussion about the Washington Post article on their website. The bulletin board there makes for interesting reading, as does the discussion on the mostly-professional Historical Archaeology discussion list HistArch, because there appear to be points at which a compromise may be reached between the professional archaeologist and relic hunter.
- Washington Post | Unearthed War Relics See Battle Again, story in the Washington Post
- Diggin In Virginia
- DIV | Is permanent loss better?, Andy in CT
- This poster on DIV asked that I remove his name and link
- DIV | Develop strategies to work with us, Ernest Bower
- Histarch | Go back to the legislature, Ron May
- Histarch | Find activities for us to assist, Gail Carbiener
- Histarch | A model of cooperation?, Joe Roberts
- Histarch | UK model, Geoff Carver
- Histarch | Risks of underfunded research, Vergil Noble
- Histarch | THC's Archaeology Stewards Program, Andrew Hall
If archaeologists are interested in preserving the past, and since legislation stopping the DIV and allied groups has failed and probably will continue to fail, we ought to be working with these perfectly legal relic hunters to improve their recording process, to teach them what archaeology can tell us of the Civil War and to instill an understanding of the preservation ethic. I realize that this will not be a widely accepted answer, and there are problems with finding funding, as Vergil Noble points out, but the educational and knowledge aspects of being able to conduct even a small targeted survey would be wonderful.
While this may sound somewhat pie-in-the-sky, similar property rights battles have been fought in Texas, in response to which the Texas Historical Commission developed the Archaeology Stewards Program to record amateur collections and educate relic hunters. I have no doubt that the painstaking archaeological method of recovery does not hold the same level of exhiliration as running rampant over a hillside. But think what a trained archaeologist could do with 200 eager volunteers over a weekend.
Comments
Virginia does have at least one decent instance of cooperation between professional archaeologists and citizens:
http://oha.alexandriava.gov/archaeology/ar-mission.html.
It would be nice if this kind of system – with developers, archaeologists, and the public helping each other – could be put in place in the Northern Virginia suburbs.
And what about the battlefield archaeology taking place in other parts of the country – most famously, at the Custer Battlefield? Metal detectors were happy to volunteer when archaeologists needed experienced hands to locate those thousands of bullets and other items.
I think, with intelligent planning and patience on both sides, that a satisfactory division of labor could be worked out between the hobbyists and the professionals in this field. Successful examples are all around.
Good point, SB. I also heard from somebody in Texas who says there are still horrible problems with collectors, so we have to recognize that the ‘can’t we all just get along’ argument won’t actually work perfectly. (I hope that person posts, I’ve asked him to, but we’ll see).
I still think it’s worth trying, and I certainly would like to know more about places where it does work.
SB is correct that there are several examples of successful public archeology programs, as here in Arkansas where proffessional archeologists work side by side with citizens to instruct them in the proper skills needed to perform excavations, mapping, and curation. This citizen organization is the Arkansas Amature Archeological Society. It is complete with an archeological technician training and certification program.
“Avocational” archeologists abound here that do not participate in this program. Unfortunately most these people are motivated by profit instead of the desire to learn from the materials they recover. But there are several people that are just ignorant to the damage they do. Ignorance can be changed though, stupidity,on the other hand is voluntary. When the well intended, but non-enlightened, are alienated by the vocational archeologists, the opportunity to educate is lost forever.
I personaly feel that private collections can still have a value to archeological research. Especially when these collections are curated in a manner that retains provenance. But the greedy people never maintain their finds, or retain them either. There is a web site on arrowheads.com that provides an opportunity to buy digging time near a major multicomponent site in Texas called the Gault site. The operation consists of backhoes dumping their buckets into 10×10 foot screens where whatever is found in front of the participants are taken by them. These profiteers are charging hundreds of dollars a day for the opportunity. When money is put into the equation, the artifacts are always destined for the black market.
Archeologists need to reach out to the collecting community to enlist the aid of sincere collectors, that are just as appauled by these profiteers,and take the opportunity to teach the results of unscientific excavations and how to record surface finds properly. Funding for curation of artifacts is fast becoming far and few between. If we reach out to these collectors to gain the knowledge that their collections still hold, i.e. proveniance, photos, and metric data, we can all benefit.
It is true that more sites are lost to urban growth than by collectors, especially in this fast growing area of Arkansas, so we as proffesional archeologists should try to utilize these collections, as they may soon be the only bountiful sources of data left.
I know that most archeologists cite that collections are utlimately destined for the black market, but if we work with collectors instead of attack them, the number of donations to the few remaining museums would definitely increase, and useful data for distribution patterns can be retained. As opposed to the hoarding of collections that would ultimately be inherited by uninterested heirs that would throw away the box of rocks, or worse place them in the hands of black marketers.
This matter is a truly “thorny” issue, but collecting (be it stamps, coins, or arrowheads) will always be a cultural phenomena that will never go away. We need to except this and discover ways to use this facet of human nature.
JM
Some landowners see archeaeology as a pain in the neck and would rather NOT find anything that interferes with their property use. For instance, an orchard may produce hundreds of thoudsands, but what do old bones and bullets produce? Ya gotta convert these types though good relations, not laws.
Dear Kris,
Congratulations for your latest piece on Civil War archaeology making it to the daily updates section of “Archaeology” magazine’s website.
–Stan
Let me give you some personal insight about the Texas Historical Commission and their “Archaeology Stewards Program”.
I am a “Metal Detectorist”, a person who enjoys metal detecting, but not necessarily “Relic Hunting”. My favorite place to hunt is on the beach, or in public parks where there is a good chance to find lost coins and jewelry.
In my opinion, the THC does not like metal detecting at all and would love to shut it down statewide, period.
Case in point, one of the clubs I belong to held a “Planted hunt” in a local park last year. A planted hunt is one where you mark an area, take coins and tokens for prizes and plant them in the ground. You then allow the participants to use their metal detectors to find the “targets”. They get to keep all that they dig up.
We have been having these hunts, with permission, for years in this park.
There just so happens to be a historical marker in this park which marks an historical site that to my knowledge does not even lie within the park boundaries, but on adjacent property. However, the marker was placed in the park so the public would have access to the marker. Does no good to place a marker where nobody will see it.
Anyway, a member of the THC happened by and saw our “planted hunt” and without inquiring about what we were doing “assumed” we were digging up relics related to the historical marker.
The THC then wrote a letter to the governing body of the park and all but threatened them with legal action for allowing us to metal detect on public lands.
Instead of investigating the matter the government official made the park off limits to metal detecting.
As far as the Archaeology Stewards Program is concerned, I had no idea it even existed until I read about it in your article. I read the link to the program and it does not say anything about “relic hunters” or “metal detectorist” so I would venture to say it was not created with us in mind.
I do not know anyone in this hobby that would not welcome some sort of compromise with the THC, but it has been our experience that they are just a group of narrow minded individuals that hate people that metal detect.
Are you familiar with the way they handle relics in England? I am not all that knowledgable about it, but my impression is that each county has its own Archaeologist that must be contacted in the event something of Archaeological significance is found. A determination is then made to either allow the person finding it to keep it or for the government to take possession of it. However, if the government does take it, then they must compensate the finder for it.
A program like this would be beneficial to all parties involved. It would give people incentives to turn in their finds, or face the legal consequences, and if you did turn them in you would know that your efforts would not go unrewarded.
Something has got to be done to resolve this problem. We must meet some sort of a happy medium so that all parties involved are happy. We would love to have a group of Archaeologists in the State of Texas that did not see us all as “Criminals” and that would work with us to put this issue to rest.
Both sides have valid point and both sides have there flaws.The archaeologist want to dig relics and study them and most will never be seen. These is aparent at just about any national site you visit. They couls work better with relic hunters than just saying they are looters and destory history. Relic hunters have bad apples as well. The ones that are out for a profit and sneak in to site that are clearly marked. Leave holes and mkae bad names for other relic hunters. If a person is by the law, and as a agreement with the privit land owner then no queations should be brought up. I have seen numerous areas that were beening devloped for progress and relics recvored and restored and preserved.to share with the community. To only bee subject to slander about the methods used to recover the relics. I honestly feel bnoth sides have point and only care to see there side of the story. If they worked together to relsove the problems on both sides of the fence you would see a lot more history been shared recoverd and preserved for future genarations to study
just a note on this subject: told to me by a young archaeologist who is more modern think in his views,”we were doing a dig at Jamestown for colonial atifacts and came upon civil war artifacts and the senior arch. threw them back in the pile and said they were not old enough to be archaeology” this is the mentality we are dealing with. now all of a sudden they care about CW relics. I have to believe that interest came about when they saw the money involved. Never the less, we are losing more artifacts to construction than they could ever save. the developers don’t want the delay. one arch. actually said that future arch. would find things we let get buried under concrete! what perpetual patience!
Well—it’s very easy to say “all of a sudden they care about cw artifacts” when you don’t know the whole background. Archaeology has changed as a science–and the more we study things the more we recognize what kinds of information are available from artifacts that a couple of decades ago we simply threw away. And it’s definitely nothing to do with money–every artifact an archaeologist picks up in the field has to be dealt with, cleaned, stabilized, cataloged, measured, described, and curated. That’s not inexpensive–and the perceived monetary value of an artifact is never cashed in. It’s just taking up space in the repository waiting for somebody to take it out and study it again.
The thing that you don’t understand is that there is demonstrably information in those CW artifacts that is lost when a collector digs them up and takes them home to put them on the mantelpiece. I’m not saying there’s no possible middle ground–would a collector be interested in helping clean, stabilize, catalog and describe artifacts if they were able to keep some of the duplicates?–I’m just saying there are negotiation points that need to be addressed.
Kris
My two cents,
The state archeologist sits in his home office answering questions in an interview with a local news station. As the camera pans back and forth from the reporter to the “king of Michigan history”, one can see numerous native american and early michigan artifacts displayed on shelves and bookcases. This private collection of artifacts, recovered with taxpayer monies yet on display for private enjoyment, is exactly the reason that the detector community is fed up with the “We are better than you” attitude that most archeologists have. The Michigan state archeologist has even said in public that anyone in this state with a metal detector should be shot. No kidding. He really said it.
Go to any historical site in Michigan and you will see artifacts from that site on display. Most,lf not all, are poor examples of hastily preserved trinkets that may or may not have significant historical value. Where’s all the “good stuff”? Probably in the private collections of the archeologists that “legally” excavated the site.
The state spent millions of dollars and several years excavating an early trading post near Three Rivers, after which they published a report that listed the significant finds and conclusions.I think the report listed one coin as having been recovered from the site. That’s right, one. C’mon. Get real. And after all the time and money spent they came to the astounding conclusion that our early Michigan ancestors ate beef, pork, turkey, and venison. WOW!
i live in central VA i haved watched civil war and rev war period sites bulldosed left and right with no archy anywhere in site if it were not for diggers the artifacts that were recovered would not have been and would have been gone forever being as much of soil has been hauled away where are the archys that are condeming us not out there doing anything execpt pointing fingers instead of recovering history
I agree with Mitchell
I have been relic hunting for about 15 years, and I have never seen any Archy at any construction site where the artifacts, if not recovered by relic hunters will be lost forever, and Ive hunted dozens of these sites.Several years ago, here in Stafford Co, Va. a CW era fort was leveled for new homes being built. Where were the Archies then?
Contrary to what most Archies would have the public believe, we are in it for the love of history and save what we find, NOT for monetary gain. I know many other relic hunters who feel the same way and would never sell what they find. and MOST of us hunt LEGALLY.
I will continue to search for CW artifacts whenever I have the time. I dont need a grant or funding to do it..
I can understand so much of the fustration here over the loss of history, but grabbing it and stuffing it in boxes in basements is no answer.
I am a professional archeologist. Yes, I have a trinket or two on my desk, normally turned in by people who took it from public lands and want to be rid of it from guilt or bad mojo. No, I do not know of even ONE professional who has a personal hoard – that is how you get tossed out of the profession. I have heard of one guys who has broke the trust of a Tribe and he never gets funded on projects. Why would I need piles in my basement when I can go visit a clean, orderly, and studied display at anytime and get paid for it? I have worked at several battlefields and have had some solid citizens offer to be of assistance. I have accepted help from volunteers. But by far, many, many of my professional hours have been spent chasing those very few distructive and selfish folks who disregard the rules. They are not mistaken or ignorant. They are willing to flaunt law and often have guns and drugs. If they can disregard one law, all the rest have a slippery slope.
I don’t know of one archeologist that is happy that there isn’t enough funding for us to be at more ground breakings, but that does not mean that all is tossed to the wind.
Why don’t we admit to ourselves what this is really about?
This is our socialist government’s never ending need to CONTROL everything. If you are not part of their circle of liberal educators and government officials, they don’t want you out there digging. They lust to control everything including the history they rewrite to suit them. If you’re out there digging, one day you might actually find something that proves they have been lying to you. For example, if you we’re to dig at the Crater in Petersburg, you might actually find something that proves those Black Federals were sent into the meat grinder and that the count was nearly 4000 dead and not 1500 ike they say. Therefore they must keep you out of there and anywhere else they possibly can. Why do think the penalties are so harsh for digging on NP Battlefields? You don’t honestly think these Communist care anything about preserving a place like Manassas or Fredericksburg where the Confederates actually won do you? Don’t fool yourself.
14) You make an excellent point Sam about how there is still stuff to be LEARNED by digging. But digging in an uncontrolled way and taking the stuff home or selling it wouldn’t exactly make the points you are trying to make about history, would it?!