Please send me your pulltabs and nails that are 50+ years old - For the archies

[Buff4]

First let me state that I am NOT an Archeologist, although maybe I'll attend night school to become one so I can swing my detector 5 or 10 years from now. And what about my little boy who's begun having fun with dad detecting, what's in his future ?
STAY WITH ME HERE NOW.
I do believe in the preservation of an historical site or find, and would not tread on such ground, but things are getting out of hand here in our great country of the United states. I live in New England which dates back to the 1600's, so there's always a chance I may find something truly old, and I'm not talking 50 years old. My idea is this. With all the THOUSANDS of MD'ers out there, why don't each of us find the address of our nearest archeologist headquarters, and send them EVERY single 50 + year old piece of trash we pull out of the ground while detecting to them, pop tops, nails, rusted iron.... you get the point.
No need to put a return address on the package, perhaps include a note saying found in such and such a town, in such and a state. They say ANYTHING over 50 years belongs to them. Maybe a hundred pounds of trash a week would get their attention. Some of us are genuine, and go through great lengths to return someones say class ring. Well if they claim they own everything over 50 years old that is unearthed, then the right thing to do is return it to them, right ?
Maybe this will help them define in further legislature what we CAN KEEP, and what we can't. Their saying that if we find an Indian head penny, or a 80 year old wedding band that we would be breaking the law.... seriously, how are these finds effecting the historical preservation of this country ?

If you believe in the Mayan calender and 12/21/2012 is the end of the world, then sit on your hands. Everyone knows that there is strength in numbers, and the ratio between the number of detectorists vs. the number of archeologists has to be 100 to 1 if not more. We love our hobby, but fail to stand up for it. How many a single person stood up to be heard in our nations history, and made a change.
Thank you for reading, and I would hope that we could all join as one.
God Bless and happy hunting.

 

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[maipenrai]

Good idea, but maybe the junk should be addressed to the legislators that are passing these laws. The archies would just throw it into the garbage bin and not say anything about it, but if the legislators started getting hundreds of pounds of trash every week, plus a note explaining why we are sending such stuff, maybe they might think it over.

 

[Buff4]

maipenrai, that is also a great way to look at it.
Thank you for the reply.
HH

 

[Zephyr]

(...) No need to put a return address on the package (...)

Worst case scenario, I'd expect to see news reports of the bomb squad detonating "suspicious packages".

That said, I do like your idea!

 

[Twisted One]

Don't forget to include map coordinates of the find, a long with any supporting items you found in the hole to, so we can keep it in "Context" for them, not sure how well earthworms ship, but it's important to record as much information as possible. So maybe a small book, on how many pieces of grass you estimate to be in the lawn you were digging, and any hypothesis as to how that pull tab might have gotten to that location that you may be able to come up with.