# THIS is what gives some archys a bad name!



## Jim (Sep 25, 2007)

Friends, please check out the guestbook to my website (link below), and see what someone left for me (Don't worry, it's clean). My rebuttal follows. This is exactly the kind of condescending, uneducated garbage and bogus accusations that gives many bottle collectors a bad taste for archaeologists! It's not fair to bottle collectors OR archaeologists in general, but sadly, we still see these kinds of things and it is very disappointing. ~Jim


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## Jim (Sep 25, 2007)

Here it is...

*val:* Do you realize that looting archaeological site is against the law? It's people like you that make our understanding of the archaeological record much more difficult. Shame on you for robbing us of our cultural heritage!12-Sep-07[/align]166.2.12.x[/align]


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## Jim (Sep 25, 2007)

And my response. As you all know, I'm a pretty mellow and laid-back kind of guy. I don't get bent out of shape too much, but this nonsense pushed me over the edge []

*Jim (Site Owner):* Val, I don't know where you came from, but please feel free to stay there. I do not dig "archaeological sites", ever, period. As Rick said, we dig in old trash dumps and/or privy pits that are located on PRIVATE PROPERTY, WITH PERMISSION! I have spent countless hours researching the history behind my rare local bottles that I have dug, some of which were previously unknown to exist. I work 40 hours weekly, and I dig and collect bottles out of pure love for the hobby and a deep appreciation of history, NOT to try to line my pockets. Congratulations on falling flat on your nose with your uneducated assumptions! 

 Just some food for thought (which you seem to need a dose of)...Most of the bottles on my site were BOUGHT by me, and not dug from anywhere. Please take your uneducated assumptions and condescending attitude elsewhere, as they are not welcome here. ~JM
 [/align]


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## GuntherHess (Sep 25, 2007)

How do you know they are a formally trained archeologist and just not some do-gooder trouble maker nut case? The vast majority of trained archaeologists understand the difference between an historically significant site and a generic bottle dump. Of course there are people with no common sense in every field.


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## ktbi (Sep 25, 2007)

Hi Jim...I wouldn't make too big a deal out of this...probably like Gunther said and the guy is not an archeologist but someone with a mission/obsession.  He does have a problem, but that's exactl;y what it is - HIS problem.  Anyway, I enjoyed looking around your site.  I like poisons as well and learned a few things.  I bookmarked it...Thanks for sharing your passion.....Ron


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## Jim (Sep 25, 2007)

The troublemaker nutcase label does seem to fit very well. Perhaps what we have here is an archaeologist wanna-be, someone who is not intelligent or ambitious enough to be a true archaeologist, but likes to think that they know something and enjoys talking down on others. Pretty pathetic [].

 Whatever the case, I will not stand for them trashing me and bottle collectors in general, especially on my own site and when they know nothing about me other than that I collect poison bottles. Thanks for the replies, guys. It isn't really worth getting mad, but it struck a nerve. ~Jim

 PS- I just realized something. A friend mentioned something in my guestbook about a large coffin that was dug. Perhaps this idiot failed to realize that it was a coffin POISON BOTTLE, and thinks that I'm some kind of grave robber [].


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## Flaschenjager (Sep 25, 2007)

Hi *Jim* -
 Sounds like a ...Welcome to the world of bottle websites. [] [] [] Everyone that has a site up, with a way to post their thoughts, get this sort of nonsense, from time to time. I know I do. I get tons of emails weekly and I'm guessing mostly 'cause I have websites, but a very small percentage of them will be bad. 99% of them just want to know what their find is worth. [] They either like ya or they hate you (jealously - envy - from the wrong area - etc.) []

 PS - I don't have your site on my links page. Would you like to be added when I FINALLY update it?


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## epgorge (Sep 25, 2007)

[][]





> Of course there are people with no common sense in every field.


[8D]
 Your killing me


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## Jim (Sep 25, 2007)

Hi Meech, A link would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 I get some "What's it worth?" questions. Most of them are about common bottles, and I have to bring them bad news. Fortunately, they are appreciative and just happy that I answered their inquiry.

 The occasional jokers like our friend "Val" are just laughing stock. It really irritated me at first, but now that I think about it, it's really just plain funny how some people will spout off and embarrass themselves. Bottle digger = Grave robber?? [][] That's one strange connection! Well, maybe if they count dead privy seeds and 1850s meat bones  as a grave[]. ~Jim


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## Tony14 (Sep 25, 2007)

Geeze jim dont you know anything! Think about it the first spot you would want to bury your dead relative would be right in the privy! How more convenient could it be![]


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## whiskeyman (Sep 26, 2007)

JIM...[/align]I understand where yer coming from. AB& GC  magazine has hashed it out with _"archies_ " a few times in the past in the letter columns. [/align] [/align]So far my site hasn't produced all that many emails and 75% deal with wanting to know about local bottles/history. Other 25% are people thanking me for providing the info about their relatives and in a complimentary manner.[/align]I used to have a Guestbook, but took it down because porn sites were posting their addys in it...repeatedly. I'd delete the entries and next day - there they were again.[/align]


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## morbious_fod (Sep 26, 2007)

Thanks for the intel Whiskeyman. Note to self no guestbook. 

 I didn't know that there were issues between archeologists and bottle diggers. It is kind of odd that archeologists would be thinking that anyone else who digs would be a grave robber when their own profession can been seen in the same light. The only difference between archeologist and a grave robber is the scientific/historical justification.

 Nothing against archeologists, I even wanted to be one at one point. I've always had a love of history and a desire for knowledge, it is one of the things that brought me into bottle collecting in the first place. For anyone to assume that, just because they have a scientific justification and degree in archeology, they are the only ones who have a right to anything buried is illogical.


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## PhilaBottles (Sep 26, 2007)

they are just angry some of us know just as much or more than them. ive 'out knowledged' archaeologists...its fuuun []


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## Jim (Sep 26, 2007)

I've seen those "guestbook spammers". Some of these porn/Viagra/electronics/other crap sellers have absolutely no class, and no respect for anyone's guestbooks or discussion boards. I give a BIG thumbs-up to Roger for doing an excellent job of getting rid of these lowlifes when they occasionally surface on this forum! I have seen spammers ruin many discussions on boards.

 Most archaeologists are good people who know the difference between bottle hobbyists and looters. The ones who don't just aren't very bright. I looted a beer can from my back yard once. It was buried...lawn mower found it. I pulled it out and got rid of it, now I have ruined an archaeological site [&:]. ~Jim


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## tigue710 (Sep 28, 2007)

they're mad cause they dont get to keep anything... and we do!


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## whiskeyman (Sep 29, 2007)

MORBIOUS...we have something in common besides bottles/research, etc. When a kid I was wild about dinosaurs and remained interested in archaeology until I was about 19...then I joined the Navy...LOL.
After I got out, I attended college and took some courses in Geology, Geomorphology, Biology, plus the standard required ones. Had to drop out after 6 quarters. But a few years later I resumed , in night school...small curriculum there: Sociology, Psychology, Business & Accounting. ..ack!! I endured the 1st two subjects for 4 quarters before my GI Bill ran out.[/align]


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## whiskeyman (Sep 29, 2007)

To the "Archies", even a fragment of material may contain useful info. Most bottle diggers pay scant attention to shards, sherds, etc...unless there's enough found that one can "rebuild" the container, plate, etc. 
OR, if it's an extremely scarce example...[/align]OR...if it piques their curiosity...[/align]


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## morbious_fod (Sep 29, 2007)

How'd you know that I was a dinosaur nut as a kid? LOL! Of course on other factor to my wanting to be an archeologist stems from Raiders of the Lost Ark. I like nearly every other kid from my generation wanted to wear a Fedora and trot around the globe seeking lost civilizations.


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## baltbottles (Sep 29, 2007)

I guess I was the only kid who wanted to wear a top hat and be the monopoly guy LOL

 So Now I play in the dirt for fun go figure?

 Chris


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## CALDIGR2 (Sep 30, 2007)

"Val" could very well be a trained Archaeologist. It seems that a part of their formal education is to learn to detest all collectors of any kind as low mentality losers whose sole objective is to pillage the "archaeological record" and deny future generations of their ilk the right to excavate. I say f**k 'em, and dig away, I certainly do.


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 30, 2007)

If it weren't for amateur archies and people in it for the the money these people who paid to be trained in it wouldn't know what to learn. In other words, 90% or better of their knowledge came from folks digging in the dirt for fun, adventure, and yes, profit too.
 I am half with them though. There are some people who find something of real significance and totally trash the area without regard. Except for profit that is.
 You really need to know before snapping to judgments either way.


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## Jim (Oct 1, 2007)

Those who would willingly destroy a truly significant archaeological site for profit, "fun" or any other reason are indeed scum. I'll agree with anyone on that point. There are some types of sites that should not be disturbed in a manner that will destroy or obscure any part of the information that they contain. This is really just common sense, and I can see why profesional archies get pissed when it happens.

 On the other hand, I find condescending individuals and groups who like to throw around baseless accusations and trash all bottle collectors to be equally scummy. Just like with anything, there are the good and the not-so-good people. It is unfair and wrong for anyone to be lumped into the "bads" based on nothing but what their hobby is or how they pursue it. ~Jim


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## bigghouse (Oct 2, 2007)

val is just jeolous that he cant dig a 20 foot hole and u can

 there are a lot of glass hloes out there and i am not talking about pontils[:-]


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## Digger George (Oct 3, 2007)

some italian guy taught me once that all you have to do is say "eeeehhhhh go f*** yaself"


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