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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;say_it_slowly, post: 2248153, member: 50&quot;]I&#039;ll just give my take on archaeology and finds. Where I live people with metal detectors often are looking for US Civil War artifacts. There can be a place for detectors in archaeology but generally it&#039;s frowned upon because so much potential to understand things is gone if dug up and carried away.</p><p><br /></p><p>Archaeology is trying to understand humans that came before based on what they left behind and how those things relate to one another. What an item is only gives a small part of the story. In archaeology digging is done in layers based on changes in the soil. Everything is carefully recorded at each level including all finds at that level, soil color etc because they may relate to each other in the time record. Once dug, if not recorded....the ability to relate the items to each other in time based on the level they&#039;re found is usually lost. There are so many things they look at, pollen to know what plants existed, nut shell and bones etc to see what they might have been eating, even patterns left by the color changes in soil that may show where wood rotted etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>So reporting where something was found may give an archaeologist an area to try looking for a campsite, a homestead, a fort, etc but that particular object will not be as much help as if it was left in place because it&#039;s actual location in 3-dimensional space is gone. If recovering a find documenting it&#039;s exact location can be helpful and certainly reporting it (if there are any authorities to report to) should be helpful also.</p><p><br /></p><p>Off my soapbox<img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/wink.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=";)" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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