Dunkerk digger

[Jean-Loup]

"Certainly. Robertshaw's group had been conducting a properly authorized archaeological dig of a mass grave from WWI. The human remains were treated with respect and turned over to the proper authroities and CWGC. The excavation was refilled but, before leaving the area Andy took one more run past the site, to find out that others had dug up the hole again, presumably looking for 'relics'. I agree with Bond! "


I understand now, they were redigging a former mass grave site, and must have been disapointed if the archaeologists did their work correctly. I dont know if digging up an empty hole corresponds to the definition of looting...
Interestingly, archaeologists do the same thing regularly (excavating former exhumation sites), and so have I, and I even presented the results of such searches at Robertshaw's Finding the Fallen Conference last year.
The difference between archaeology and looting all has to do with how the work is done, and what is done with the information. Is the point to find things to sell on ebay? Or is the point to try to understand what happened at that location and to spread that information?
In my case, I invite you to see these threads to see what I was able to do by re-excavating a site that had already been searched by the "professionals" many years earlier:
http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=914746

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...d.php?t=806308

JL

[peter monahan]

"The difference between archaeology and looting all has to do with how the work is done, and what is done with the information." And the intent behind the digs, Jean Loup: whether to find information or merely to find 'loot' to sell.

Thank you for sharing these links.

[Bob Hritz]

I do not dig battlefields or metal detect for items. However, I am a collector of Native American stone artifacts. Many archaeologists have great distain for those of us who dig on private property and want to ban the collecting of these artifacts. I find it amusing that they will not invest their own money to conduct digs and that many archaeologists have outstanding collections. Apparantly they are the only ones who should be allowed to collect, at their sponsors' expense.

I am all for preserving history. I just think that preserving history gets a bad reputation from the looters. Human remains should be properly handled and, hopefully identified, so the families can be notified.

I never had any interest in dug artifacts because of condition and not knowing the way they were collected. However, I do understand the interest of other collectors and the excitement of making a discovery. Those who have helped to identify remains and help families get information on their loved ones is noble and holds to great standards of humanity.

Bob Hritz