Legs has to Know

One correspondent on Candice Jarman's blog just has to know:

Paul Barford, if you or one of your friends is reading please answer this. Which university did you attend, what was your degree in and when were you there? It's a simple question. I've followed the links on your blog and I'm still none the wiser, sorry. ??? 12 October 2010 15:54

I'm not quite sure why the three question marks are there. Neither of course are we any the wiser who "legs" is, whether he or she has friends, whether he or she attended a university, got a degree in anything other than being annoying and when. there are no links to follow in this individual's profile which is wholly empty of content. But the comment is full of impudence.

I have in fact answered those questions (at least) once before on a forum, the text should still be out there and I do not feel the need to repeat any of it.

Frankly, if I were an unemployed miner with two CSEs living with my pensioner mum and a three legged cat in a two up two down and with a taste for pot noodles, transvestitism and mild sadomasochism, it really surely would make not a smidgin of a difference to whether what I write on my main blog [Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues] has any meaning or not. I'm blogging on collecting and related issues for my own entertainment anyway. Take it or leave it. I write under my own name, which neither "legs" nor - I am sure - "Candice Jarman" do. Most metal detectorists prefer anonymity and pseudonyms to hide behind, most UK metal detecting forums are closed to outsiders, as are most coin collecting and antiquity collecting forums.

I openly write my frank opinions in my own little niche corner of the internet, but force nobody to read them. That I do so openly does not however mean that jerks like "Legs" and "Candice" or any of their guffawing detectorist sidekicks have a "right" to attempt to invade the privacy of other areas of my life.

Finds rate at Water Newton Rally up this year

When the Water Newton (Chesterton) was being held under the supervision (sic) of a team of archaeologists the project leader one David Connolly reckoned he'd got the tekkies handing in most of the finds, and on that basis claimed that metal detecting does less damage to the archaeological record than its critics assert. The rally has since gone on without him, and the fourth season has just finished and a detectorist (one Raymo from Middlesborough 232 km from Water Newton) has gone on one of their forums today jubilating about the 'haul' :

hi all,,,got back on sunday night after 10 day's detecting,,,(sort of ,,to much drink)started of at the chesterton rally on the thursday,it was a very good rally for find's, every one i spoke to had 5 to 10 roman bronze,...i had a couple of hammy's, a silver celtic unit,a roman brooch and some bronze roman,...then stoped at a camp site where the owner allowed us to detect for 3 day's,,,i got 3 hammy's,another roman brooch and a potin.,HO,,ALSO FOUND FOOOOUUUR GOOOOLD RING'S,,,(((but that's another storey which i'll post later))..

Connolly (2006 p. 9) had 240 find from 116 finders (roughly two finds each) which he considered was "the majority of those who had found something recordable". So there is more or less Roman finds in the topsoil after three rallies and an unknown amount of 'nighthawking'? I have always suspected Connolly's assessment of his success rate was overoptimistic, if what "Raymo" says is true, it looks like there are grounds for stating this with more certainty.

Detectorists and All the Bad Fings They Do

Off-topic comment on a text on Heritage Journal about French detectorists and welsh museums (spelling and punctuation as in original):

Its funny when i see these comments on damaged historical sites and Paul Barford talking as if he is some kind of expert on who does the damage, He only concentrates on metal detectorist and all the bad things they do,this guy is 90% Bullshit and 10% glorified grave digger full untruths wind and piss so to speak. So please do not take any notice of anything he says,as he is big lier, Norm

I guess readers can make up their own minds how much "bullshit" and "piss" there is in my opinions on the general situation on the antiquities market and in artefact collecting. Oddly enough the metal detectorists like Illiterit Norm think I am "concentrating on the metal detectorists" while the coin collectors across the Atlantic think I am concentrating on them... The rest of us see that there are a few more general problems emerging with attitudes to the exploitation of archaeological sites as a source of collectables which need addressing by those more articulate than oiks who cannot spell, omit prepositions and replace civilised language by four-letter crudities.

Vignette: Worzel Gummidge Down Under.