While browsing the web for information on antiquities sales in the US, I found myself at a forum for discussing how to find and purchase ancient chipped stone tools. This site linked to a number of regional and national groups and dealers. Clicking through to some of these websites, with names like ‘Arrowhead Hunters’ and ‘Goodflint’, it was clear that these were small time vendors and chat rooms for people who collected lithics as a hobby, most featuring galleries of artefacts for sale, at around the $100 mark, but some going into the thousand dollar range.
Being slightly familiar with treasure hunting / metal detecting in the UK, it seemed that these artefact collectors were considerably less informed about preserving and recording archaeological context, though not necessarily more reckless than their British counterparts. The typical ‘code for responsible collecting’ read something like the advice at Texas Cache:
Artifacts are special pieces of ancient history. Please dig responsible and preserve your finds through photographs and proper documentation. Happy hunting!
It made me think again about the concept of ‘responsible artefact collecting’. Can there be such a thing in this day and age? Unfortunately, the notion seems to have been given credence, perhaps inadvertently, by people otherwise opposed to looting. Taking a photo, covering the hole you’ve dug, recording a six figure grid reference – these are what counts for responsible according to some codes. But surely the very act of treasure hunting, looting, looking for objects for their own sake, is irresponsible. How much responsible artefact collecting can be done before a land becomes so degraded to be archaeologically useless?
