(Originally posted: 3/4/2012)
In the last post, I linked to online campaigns against two television series that feature untrained amateurs digging up historic artifacts for profit. The first show, National Geographic’s “Diggers,” has aired, and I’ve had a chance to see it. There’s good news and bad news (but mostly bad). The full post has my review.
First, a letter from Society for American Archaeology President Fred Limp to the society’s membership indicated that National Geographic Channel would “place a disclaimer into the show that speaks to laws protecting archaeological and historic sites.” The recording I saw did not have this disclaimer, but it is possible the message aired before the show or during commercials, which were edited from my recording by the friend who made it. Unfortunately, that disclaimer, whatever it may have been, could never have offset the problems with this show.
The half-hour show introduced to metal detectorists–“The Ringmaster” and “King George”–and split its time between two sites. The first was a late-19th century Montana prison, the second a similarly aged Montana cattle ranch. The two men wandered around with fancy metal detectors, apparently at random, pretending to be wildly excited by a few coins (one as recent at the late 1960’s) and other things that would be considered trash by most people.
To the show’s credit, the producers were careful to point out that both sites were first built in the 1870’s (but they only hinted at end dates–as late as the late 1960’s, if the coin is a terminus post quem). I’m not familiar with Montana laws, of course, but it is likely that their activities were entirely legal. In most states, it would be legal to excavate materials of these ages on private land with the consent of the land owner. Unfortunately, nothing in the show pointed this out. The viewers were left with the impression that these sites were chosen for convenience, not because they were of an appropriate age.
That, of course is the major problem with the episode: no attempt to educate. In the half hour episode, there was perhaps 30 seconds or so with educational value. A few lines here and there about the history of the site, and an explanation of when a train token was used were the entirety of the educational component. The show made it look like the guys simply showed up at the sites without even a few minutes of prep work, pulled out their metal detectors, and set to work. On site, they appear to have had no more sophisticated strategy than just to wander around aimlessly until their metal detectors beeped. “King George” did at least explain that he was looking in the vicinity of the old prison clotheslines because things would drop out of pockets as clothes dried.
Otherwise, the strategy was to wait for a beep, then set aside the metal detector and dig a hole. They dug these holes with gardeners’ scoop trowels (not even Marshalltowns!), about ten centimeters in diameter and five deep. Any metal items were immediately removed from the ground. The guys pretended the twisted old soup spoon was an amazing and exciting find, then dropped it in a bag hanging from their belts and went back to the metal detectors. No attempt was made to even look for other items in the same spot–one beep, one metal artifact, and then move on. “Context” is obviously a foreign idea here, but any trained archaeologist would have expected that to be the case in a show of this sort.
Perhaps more concerning than the lack of contextual data was the fact that the guys turned the whole process into a competition. The individual who found the artifacts with the greatest commerical value would win. This lended a bit of drama to an episode that was otherwise sorely lacking (after all, the most exciting thing found was a wheat penny). The good news is that this competition made it very clear that metal detectoring is not a get-rich-quick scheme, and probably dissuaded a lot of copycats. In the end, the “winner” had found material worth about $100 (for what seemed to be about two full days’ work). Working at a fast food joint is more profitable.
A side bet had the guys competing to see who would find the oldest artifact at the prison. This episode sadly revealed just how ignorant and dismissive of history the show is. “King George” found a 1910 wheat penny. In their last segment at the prison, “Ringmaster” thought he’d found something really interesting, but it turned out to be just a rusty nail. In passing, he mentioned that it was a square nail. The wheat penny was deemed the oldest artifact, and “King George” won the bet.
Unfortunately, that square nail was very likely from the 19th century, since wire nails largely replaced square nails around the turn of the 20th century. It is possible that the situation was different in remote Montana, but (again) the show made no attempt to explain that. Much more likely, it seems, is that age wasn’t the only criterion in the bet. Implicitly, the guys meant the winner would find the oldest artifact with commercial value. When they saw the nail, with no commercial value, age ceased to be a concern. In other words, the attitude is that the only value that the past has is a dollar value. Those artifacts with no dollar value are worthless.
A final comment is not so much about the guys on the show as it is the representative of the private organization in charge of the now-closed prison. When the guys asked her what she wanted them to find, she said a body! They quickly explained that the prison cemetery had been moved decades before, but that they suspected some graves had been overlooked. On the other hand, I don’t care which state you’re in, declaring that you intend to dig up a human burial without a proper government permit is a recipe for legal disaster! It’s also unclear how she or they expected to find a burial, using only metal detectors and digging ten-centimeter holes. The whole idea betrays a staggering ignorance of how to go about learning about the past.
In all, I think that could sum up the entire episode: the past is not presented as something that can be learned about if properly studied, but rather as something to dream about and hopefully stumble across. The good news for archaeologists is that the show was so amazingly boring that it can’t possibly succeed. If National Geographic doesn’t remember its scientific ethics and cancel the show, it will no doubt fail for commercial reasons. We can only hope that happens quickly. You can help by signing the petitions I linked in the last post!