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Man fined for digging up old bottles - Yahoo news is not very indepth
LepreSean  
Posted : Tuesday, 27 November 2012 3:32:57 PM(UTC)
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http://nz.news.yahoo.com...0yo-archaeological-site/

http://www.newstalkzb.co...50yo-archaeological-site

Edited by user Tuesday, 27 November 2012 3:35:49 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

auri sacra fames (accursed hunger for gold)
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fiddy40  
Posted : Tuesday, 27 November 2012 3:53:43 PM(UTC)
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Well Well Well all I can say is he took the risk knowing full well the outcome if caught, that sure is a warning to others. I remember a dig going on a few years back out at TA, on arrival one morning the site had been turned over.......there was a very strong suspect but don"t believe anyone was charged. Fancy being out there one day swinging away and you have a tap on the shoulder oops!!!
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expat  
Posted : Tuesday, 27 November 2012 7:57:33 PM(UTC)
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This is actually pretty old news, I know Adam well and this must have happened at least 8 years ago or so as I recall. Another case of archeaologists making an issue of something for the sake of it, there was no stratological evidence to disturb just heaps of ash with some old bottles in. They could have used their energies wiser by tapping into some of Adams immense knowledge on the subject to improve their own rather than punishing him for removing objects that would otherwise have remained buried for another hundred years.



My greatest fear is that when I die my wife will sell my collection for what I told her it cost me.
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fiddy40  
Posted : Wednesday, 28 November 2012 9:08:47 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: expat Go to Quoted Post
This is actually pretty old news, I know Adam well and this must have happened at least 8 years ago or so as I recall. Another case of archeaologists making an issue of something for the sake of it, there was no stratological evidence to disturb just heaps of ash with some old bottles in. They could have used their energies wiser by tapping into some of Adams immense knowledge on the subject to improve their own rather than punishing him for removing objects that would otherwise have remained buried for another hundred years.


Hello Expat, he is on the front page of the times this morning fined $15,000 and costs, I take it you are meaning old news as he was convicted of a similar offence in 2001 and caught in February for this one. As I see it he should not of been where he was end of story, if we all acted like him there would be total chaos, the very reason for laws protecting those areas.

It just had to be Hamilton! I can just see it now some body reporting me for MDing in a park, he did us no favours at all and for someone that was a member of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust it was behaviour, he knew he was doing wrong. It is highly possible the bottles would of been found anyway as is this not what an archaeoloical dig is all about.
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simon  
Posted : Wednesday, 28 November 2012 9:37:54 AM(UTC)
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dunno bout the fine details of this but it seems the guy was a victim of his own making.

as a member of the HPT he knew what he was doing. sounds like he raided an active dig. i sure would be pissed if someone did that to something i was digging.

when i first saw the heading of this i thought it must have been someone digging out in nature. such punishment shouldn't be dished out for other stuff i believe. like finding an old bottle well away from where anyone will ever see it. the crime is how people that discover lost treasures have to hoard them and not say look this it what i found, and lets put in on public display somewhere.


there is a heap of old stuff out there decaying. if only it could be documented well and done right for all to enjoy.

i recognise there are rogues out there that only see dollar signs. prob the same guys that leave gaping holes all over.
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Shilo  
Posted : Wednesday, 28 November 2012 11:29:18 AM(UTC)
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Originally Posted by: simon Go to Quoted Post



when i first saw the heading of this i thought it must have been someone digging out in nature. such punishment shouldn't be dished out for other stuff i believe. like finding an old bottle well away from where anyone will ever see it. the crime is how people that discover lost treasures have to hoard them and not say look this it what i found, and lets put in on public display somewhere.


there is a heap of old stuff out there decaying. if only it could be documented well and done right for all to enjoy.

i recognise there are rogues out there that only see dollar signs. prob the same guys that leave gaping holes all over.



Yes he was defiantly in the wrong and deserved the fine. Even though he was bottle digging and not detecting - he has still done damage to our hobby by the public perceiving the the 2 as the same sort of activities. HPT places are out of bounds full stop.

There is a lot of areas that are legal to hunt (bottles or detecting) and targeting HPT spots is not only breaking the law but a cop out as all the research has been done for you. All 19 century houses had their own rubbish tip, long drop etc and there are still a lot of these houses around. Since he was hunting for commercial reasons it would have be easy for him to approach these property owners and make an arrangement with them. Instead he just took the lazy way and hit a protected area.

There is not only a lot of stuff out there decaying but also being destroyed by councils etc. For example, I have been eyeing up a certain park for a while and headed to hunt it yesterday morning. Unfortunately the area was in the process of being dug up with a few truck loads of soil dumped ready to be laid over the top. Any finds (which would have dated from the 1860's) that were there have now been lost forever. If it had been "surveyed" previously I would have been happy despite not being able to hunt it as the items buried there would have become known and saved. This is why I don't mind digging up coins and other items from public areas, even though I keep the finds they are no longer at risk of being destroyed and when I sell or give them away they will be become available.

But HPT areas are different. These have either already been surveyed or are being preserved for the future. There are no risk of any finds being lost or destroyed like the above.
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