[Note: what follows are my own thoughts on this issue, which cannot be held as a representative for the sentiments of all anthropologists, historians and archaeologists.]
So this spring, SpikeTV debuted a new television program called “American Digger”. The show follows former pro-wrester Ric Savage and his business of self-proclaimed treasure hunting. The premise is quite simple: Savage and his team of relic hunters go to well-known historic areas in the United States, knock on doors until one property owner grants them permission to dig on their land (with money incentive, usually promising the landowner ~20% of whatever profit they make), and then they scour the earth with metal detectors, shovels, jackhammers, even bulldozers. The discovery of an artifact is usually immediately accompanied with the question “What’s it worth?”. When the day is done and Savage believes he’s found enough artifacts, he takes them to the local collector’s store, where he sells the artifacts. The profits usually amount to several thousand dollars, and Savage’s team celebrating over stacks of bills and patting themselves on the backs for continuing to “preserve America’s history”.
What these men are doing is far from preserving America’s history. If anything, they are destroying it and putting it in grave danger.
I hesitate to make the argument that what these men are doing is “looting”, as they (as far as I know, and as far as the show suggests) are digging only on private property. Additionally, if there were preservation laws against their specific actions, I’m sure they would be held accountable by this point. But are they encouraging looting? Absolutely. They are teaching Americans that anyone with a shovel and a metal detector can go out anywhere they so desire and search for their own “buried treasure”. Out of the several episodes I watched, never once did they emphasize the importance of respecting official historic sites and preservation laws. Perhaps they believe this is common sense, but I highly doubt that all viewers would be aware such “common sense”. Federal land, battlefields, and even Native American burial grounds are now even more at risk than before.
Perhaps what is most disturbing is the methods they use to uncover artifacts. Simply put, archaeologists don’t break their backs delicately scraping away at the soil with their trowels because it’s fun. They don’t map soil topography with excruciating detail because they enjoy drawing and coloring. In proper excavations, context is everything. In many instances, context is more important than the artifacts themselves in providing information about the past.
In a show like American Digger, context doesn’t really exist, unless it helps lead them to more artifacts. The methodology is “dig until you hit something”. They fail to realize that they are destroying vital information as they carelessly rip up the soil. Worst of all, by broadcasting it on national television, they are encouraging millions of other people to do the same. And every time it happens, a chance for archaeologists to study that place in detail and uncover vital information is destroyed.
Savage and his partners continuously emphasize the importance of their work in “preserving American history”. If they truly gave a damn about American history, they would not being doing the things they do. More importantly, they wouldn’t be encouraging so many others to do the same.
I suppose there is a silver lining to all of this- perhaps the show will become the catalyst for a larger discussion about the ethics of relic hunting, private ownership, and how capitalism plays into our interest and understandings of the past. I believe these are all topics and issues that need to be confronted anyways. But for now, all I can do is continue to cringe at this television program, and hope that enough other people see the problems with it too that something changes.