Not at all good publicity for our hobby...

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Civil War battlefield is "active crime scene" - CNN.com

 

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[digging440yrs]

Your right about making us look like trespassers or something-----but I would love to know what they found

 

[djm of PA]

If they had taken responsible detectorists up on offers to find and display items instead of letting them rot in the ground, this wouldn't be an issue. I had this argument recently with a local protected battle fort. They put in a huge parking lot and instead of letting us find and donate artifacts they paved over three acres. That in itself is a crime.

 

[Sandancer]

This is the worst possible thing that anyone could do to put a negative light on the hobby of metal detecting. Those that did this clearly broke the law, are criminals, and obviously motivated by profit and greed. It's disgusting and should be condemned by everyone who posts here.

 

[Garrett424]

That's a damn dirty shame.
But I agree wholeheartedly that letting artifacts rot in the ground to be completely lost to history is a damn dirty shame too.

There has to be a happy medium. It shouldn't be that difficult to come up with a win/win compromise in many cases.

I don't believe that a site like that battlefield that is in fact a cemetery is a place that should be hunted willy nilly or anything but when you look at the thousands of finds that we here at T'Net alone have recovered, saved and actually care for, it's pretty obvious that we're performing a valuable service; not to mention the numerous TONS of trash we remove from the ground on a regular basis. That should count for something.

The way that guy said they used " some kind of metal detector"; as if that's somehow bad really irritated me in spite of the circumstances. Like a gun, a metal detector is just another tool that can used or misused depending on who's wielding it. I hate when anyone paints any group (or tool/weapon/whatever) with a broad brush. It's the height of ignorance and an insult to anyone with even a shred of intelligence.

But the idiots that sneaked in and desecrated the battle site need a serious beating. They're just screwing everything up even more for all of us. I hope they're caught quickly and punished good and proper. Those who are knowingly buying the relics should be hunted down and made to pay a price as well. As long as people are buying, someone WILL keep selling. It's human nature and you can't regulate that.

 

[walnuttree]

Very bad for us weekend worrier detectors, just trying to pursue a hobby, maybe find something good and get some exercise. With the economy so bad, so many people out of work, I imagine the desperation of turning a quick buck for relics might be their motive. I hope the dope addicts ain't doing it. Trash like them are destroying our hobby. Like the difference between fishing a lake for fun or gill netting it and cleaning it out.

 

[Misti]

I am a new to this hobby, and my friends and neighbors are clueless about it. So once this news story broke they came to me asking if I had heard about what some metal detectorists had done and what my feelings were about it. I tried to make them understand that those looters were not "true" metal detectorists - that the people I know and have met (even if just through the Internet) are individuals who take this hobby seriously and treat the grounds and rules with respect. As a newbie, I hope I was able to represent this hobby appropriately and at least change one mind. Very unfortunately, it did indeed shine bad a light on metal detecting though.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... I agree wholeheartedly that letting artifacts rot in the ground to be completely lost to history is a damn dirty shame too. .... There has to be a happy medium. It shouldn't be that difficult to come up with a win/win compromise in many cases......

Garrett, all of us md'rs would agree with you. Afterall: "who's being harmed?". And afterall: No one will ever dig it anyhow. And afterall : we md'rs do civic good, donate to museums, contribute to written works/research, ec...

But you're not familiar with the quick come-backs the archies would counter with: You've "ripped it from historic context" (didn't dig it with tweezers and a toothbrush). And "how do you know for certain that someone, 1000 yrs. from now, won't dig a pit in that exact spot you found the buffalo nickel at ?? Shame on you.

..... The way that guy said they used " some kind of metal detector"; as if that's somehow bad ....

Yes. And did you see how they followed that with the comment about relics (buttons, buckles, etc...) showing up on ebay ? As if those too now are all some sort of "ill-gotten-gain"

....But the idiots that sneaked in and desecrated the battle site need a serious beating. They're just screwing everything up even more for all of us...

They also need a serious beating to COVER YOUR HOLES. Notice that's what drew the attention to the spots , by the arriving moring employee, IN THE FIRST PLACE.

 

[pkirill]

Not good at all! As a central Virginian who already suffers from the choke hold preventing digging in just about any park, school, or other public area, crap like this doesn't help. And sure, it's a shame that all those artifacts are just going "rot" in the ground - but that particular battlefield is, in fact, more of a graveyard than open field. My grandfather was buried with his pocket watch and wedding band. I'm certainly not comfortable with the idea of a group of selfish pricks digging him up just because those items are "going to waste." Breaking the law in such an obvious way and doing it in a place that is so important to folks around here is plain wrong. Not to mention it just makes it harder for the rest of us...