1958Debs said on Sunday, Aug 5 at 8:49 AM

Just another PhooPhoo complaint about someone doing something without their express permission or dragging them along. What's next? Griping about the land owners digging up history? Sounds like the scientist that said that people should not be allowed to dig up dinosaur remains on their own property and if they do, have to sell cheap to them. so long to your own property rights. Now the experts have them.

Joseph Nichols said on Thursday, Apr 19 at 6:45 AM

Just saw the preview for an episode where they are going to look for arrow heads with a tiller. If someone gives them permission to use their land I do not have a problem with that. I have collected several myself. This show is just stupid. I actually watched one episode where they found a bag of coins in cloth bag that was under a air filter pan under a concrete slab. They supposedly found them with betal detector. I turned the show off and never bothered with it again.

steve sylvia said on Sunday, Mar 4 at 11:45 AM

Where is the outrage from the archeologists about the urban development that is taking place in America? For every square foot "despoiled" by relic hunters an acre of topsoil is bulldozed and carried away in dump trucks. Not a word of complaint from the noble, breast-beating archy community. All this prattle about context is ridiculous when applied to most Civil War sites. Most of the artifacts are close to the surface and are in areas that have been farmed for 150 years. The "context" was altered by spring plowing in 1865 and has been altered twice yearly since then. Furthermore, the archaeological constructs apply to prehistoric sites and seldom to modern sites such as the American Civil War. We know what these soldiers ate, what they wore,their habits, hobbies, social structure,etc. The context, what remains of it, can't tell us anything we don't already know. Your typical relic hunter knows more about the subject of the CW than a roomful of experienced archies.

Ohnhai said on Thursday, Mar 1 at 2:32 AM

Comment from Spike TV misses the point. Wether the show is shot on public or private land is not the issue. Time Time team digits on privately owned land a good percentage of the time. No, the issue is the methodology and Intent behind the diggs. Archeology is not about individual items of monetary worth but whole sites and the context of the objects in it and the stratigraphy of the layers... If you send in Hamm fisted treasure hunters who only want the artefacts then all the relevant and important information is going to be lost. In Time Team Tony Robbinson is an self confessed armature archeologist, yet I would be hard pressed to think of a single incedent where he was in a trench doing the xcavating. That was left to the trained professionals. As it stands 'American Diggers' naught but a show that will encourage archeological looting and vandalism.

Jane Schwartz said on Wednesday, Feb 29 at 6:13 PM

Re: Hmmm There is nothing lazy about a proper dig site! It is tedious, and often physically straining work to properly document a site. It is not solely about getting artifacts, rather it is being able to interpret the stories those artifacts have to tell through the proper recording of things such as soil depth and placement to other items.

rkh said on Wednesday, Feb 29 at 12:20 PM

Media support of activities that contradict the intent of historic preservation deserves to be confronted, whether the activities are on public or private land. Historic preservation is in the best interest of a civilized society, in terms of new knowledge and understanding historic and prehistoric artifacts can provide. Scholarly research benefits everyone. Pot hunting and other types of amateur collecting for the sake of possessing trophies for private collections benefit only the pot hunter....