Last night, I watched in horror as an unqualified horde of peole with metal detectors, rampaged through the gentle landscape of Fredericksburg, Virginia. While they claimed to be "preserving" artifacts and keeping the history of the area alive, I noted no one photographing the dig locations, marking sites on a map, or drawing diagrams of where artifacts were found. If you're going to teach people what fun it is to find treasures, you must also teach them to be responsible about documenting historical finds. Virginia has an active Historical Society whom, I am certain, would have been quite interested in sending TRAINED site investigators to, at a minimum, document the finds. The artifacts that were dug up and taken home by the carload that day are now lost to history.

Please do tell me how many "TRAINED" investigators are out there doucmenting and photographing the numerous artifacts and relics being destroyed by parking lots, shopping centers, and housing developments before they are buried forever under asphalt and concrete.

Also, I am sure if the "TRAINED" investigators were sent they would, 'at a minimum', document where the artifacts were and then decide to leave them in the ground to deteriorate. Unseen by any of the future generations of children.

History is lost at an alarming rate everyday, especially with all the rampant growth in that area, so leaving it in the ground isnt even an consideration.

Furthermore, I assure you that many of the artifacts found by idividual collectors are shared with schools, family and even donated to local museums. Certainly this is better than having the artifacts put away in a box and stored in a dusty warehouse for decades awaiting to be properly cataloged.

The "TRAINED" investigators of which I spoke, are members of the Virgina Archaeological Society (I had the name wrong in previous post). The club offers training to members so that they can conduct properly documented digs of historically important sites.

They don't leave important artifacts to deteriorate, but catalog them, and put them on display in local museums and historical showplaces.

True, many artifacts found by collectors are shared with a limited number of people, but how many are left in boxes and stored in dusty attics or sheds?

Instead of being able to access the information learned about a site, true lovers of history are left to look at ghastly empty holes with no explanation of what may have lain there.

There is nothing wrong with asking for collectors to have a sense of responsibility, and step back when they realize that they are disturbing a historical record.

Well, I can see we will continue to agree to disagree which is fine but I do challenge that there are a large number of archaelogists that have some very historically and priceless artifacts in their own homes either collecting dust or sitting on their mantles. Also, I believe that the vast majority of large institutional and museum artifacts are collecting dust and not on display. Sometimes these items are sold off at public auction to support additonal funding for other projects, of which are not even related to the artifacts sold.

We both know as well that the funding isnt available to come even remotely close to documenting and saving artifacts before they are destroyed by development, so any artifact saved is history saved. Furthermore, at construction sites in these developments areas the context of the soil is already disturbed and the historical record has been destroyed by the bulldozer not the collector.

Maybe someday when the so called novice and the "TRAINED" can work together, as in the UK, we all can learn from each other. Just remember when the "TRAINED" member does find a button or bullet from the past, he most likely will be using a reference book written by a "True" lover of history, the novice collector.

As I watched the show I told my wife that there would be a group of people watching the show in horror. I guess it would be like watching monkeys performing heart surgery. They look upon these guys as little more than grave robbers stealing history from the rest of America.

In my opinion, this is the way it is. If these guys didn't do what they did most artifacts would rot in the ground or be developed over. I've watched as retail stores and parking lots were thrown right on top of known battle sites while 'NO Trespassing' signs were posted every ten feet to ensure these relics are never enjoyed by anyone. Even asking permission to hunt these areas after hours is denied in most cases. If you need someone to blame for destroying America's history, simply go to the closest construction site most places in VA and get on your soapbox. I'd rather have artifacts in a dusty box in an attic rather than under asphalt. The Virgina Archaeological Society should be fighting for windows of opportunities during historical site development to save pieces of our history.

Here's some food for thought. The Archaeological Society of Maryland has worked with metal detectors. They have pooled their talents and have educated each other in their respective fields. And yes the two can work together. I agree that it would be nice if development could be done without destroying these sites, but maybe you should get legislation past that would require that the archaeology be done. Maybe Kirsten should try doing a little educating on how preserve the history she digs up. It's not about the cash value all the time. The knowledge gain from these types of sites is priceless.