Stop Spike TV from looting our collective past!

[bluedigger]

Why This Is Important

This show, as advertised by Spike TV

http://www.spike.com/press/2012/02/15/spike-tv-hunts-for-buried-historical-treasures-in-new-original-series-american-digger/

http://aroundthenetworks.com/spike-tv-announces-unscripted-show-american-digger/

will follow a team "led by former professional wrestler-turned-modern- day relic hunter Ric Savage as they scour ... battlefields and historic sites, in hopes of striking it rich by unearthing and selling rare pieces of American history."

"American Diggers," as described, encourages and glorifies looting and the antiquities trade at the expense of American history. Although the items pilfered by the team are acknowledged to have "great historical and cultural significance," these items are sold for individual profit.

Simply plucking valuable historical items from the ground removes these items from their context. If excavated systematically by a team of trained archaeologists these sites could prove invaluable to our cultural history. The team and Spike TV are clearly more interested in turning a quick profit than in history and education, but by glorifying these irresposible actions they are encouraging the public to follow suit.

Please sign the petition here and share on your social networks:
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-spike-tv-from-looting-our-collective-past

Letter from the SAA (Society of American Archaeology) to SpikeTV: http://bit.ly/wzT7IA

I'm getting called a snob by a wrestler: “Diggers are looked on as the trailer trash of the archaeology community and the archaeologists are thought of as the brains but that’s not necessarily the truth,” Savage said. “The higher the education people get, the higher the snobbishness that goes along with it.”

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/florida/2012-02-27/story/cable-show-host-pleased-relics-found-st-augustine-scoffs-critics#ixzz1nc0zv2wB

Help us (and our history) out, people!

[Judi Lynn]

1. Unbearably awful idea. I thought I'd heard everything.

Thank you for sharing the bad news, we need to know.

It's one of the very worst ideas I've ever heard. Can't imagine what kind of clown had the impulse to bring this ugly brain spasm to life, and then decided not to recognize its wrongfulness, but instead, share it with anyone who might see it on TV.

It's possible the application of this idea will fail, when those it tries to reach realize results aren't as quick in coming to them, and that a huge investment of time, energy, and THOUGHT will be required, so much of it uncompensated. I hope.

Look at the loss already inflicted by opportunists who've nearly stripped bare, destroyed sites they located first.

Ouch.

[bluedigger]

2. Do what you can to spread the word.

It's on Facebook, archaeologyfieldwork.com, and Shovelbums, but our numbers are small. I'm afraid we make nary a ripple in the pond.

Hoping to get it out to a larger community via DU.

[MarkCharles]

3. THANKS !! I knew nothing of this, nothing about Spike TV...

perhaps some cross-posting of this in the science and media threads would help spread the word around DU.

So few of us DU'ers are followers of the Archeology forum.

[bluedigger]

4. Thanks for replying!

I've also posted a news story in Good Reads and another DU'er put a post in the science forum about this. I don't want to spam the board, but it is hard to get any traction with this issue.

[MarkCharles]

5. Well, then, the bases are covered.

I hope someone picks up on this. Perhaps directing some of these pages to the attention of Rachel or even Keith Oblermann, or TYT, or some other national news figure?

[Odin2005]

6. Wow, that is just idiotic on so many levels.

I'm flabbergasted!