# bottle diggers....ever think of yourself as a looter?



## pchan (Sep 24, 2013)

I watched a show on the digging of Fort James in one of the Dakotas, and they referred to people looking for bottles as looters....digging bottles to sell. So I wonder, ever been called a looter by anyone?


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## GuntherHess (Sep 24, 2013)

you are only a looter if you dig on public or private lands without permission.
 Here in the east we call it trespassing and stealing if you want to get technical.


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## UncleBruce (Sep 24, 2013)

I feel when permission is acquired from a property owner that term does not apply.  I believe in Oregon though there are laws in place that remove property rights when it comes to digging.  My one experience here in Missouri was from my attempts to get permission to dig an old Cival war era RR Hotel that had burned down.  I have been trying for years to get said agreement.  Anyway two diggers west of here came to town and dug it.  They didn't ask they didn't get permission.  So were they in the wrong?  It was very upsetting to me, but it was not my property.  Needless to say I watch for them and I have many law enforcement friends.  Their loss as I have many properties to dig with permission.  How about CANNIBALFROMHANNIBAL, Want to come dig?


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## cowseatmaize (Sep 24, 2013)

> you are only a looter if you dig on public or private lands without permission.


I dug a 12 pack out of a snowbank on a state a highway and traded it for money later. I'm sure there was a war or civil unrest somewhere so I will call myself a looter. []
 No one else ever called me that though.


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## reach44 (Sep 24, 2013)

You're only a looter when you discover those valuable bottles that everyone all of the sudden cares about.  And when you trespass, of course.


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## GuntherHess (Sep 24, 2013)

I think you could justify that as litter cleanup.  Eric.


 I'm not judging all you looters, just helping the OP with the definition.[]


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 24, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  GuntherHess
> 
> you are only a looter if you dig on public or private lands without permission.
> Here in the east we call it trespassing and stealing if you want to get technical.


 

 YEP


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## pchan (Sep 24, 2013)

thanks GH, but I`m a native speaker.


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 24, 2013)

If you  get permission to dig a poot-er you can't be called looter.[]


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## GuntherHess (Sep 24, 2013)

native what?


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## pchan (Sep 24, 2013)

well since the conversation is in English, I assumed it would be obvious....must be my accent. Granted I speak Canadian English, which may sound foreign to most members here.


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## GuntherHess (Sep 24, 2013)

Oh I thought you were implying you were a native of England.
 Looter is very English (I think they looted the word from the Hindus).
 I like the German ... PlÃ¼nderer.


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## sandchip (Sep 26, 2013)

Doesn't matter what we think.  The _majority_ of archs paint us as looters, and they're the ones the legislators and the media are gonna listen to when legislation is introduced restricting digging, collecting or selling what you find.  It's happened in several states.  Don't think it can't happen in yours.  The UN wants collecting of any antiquity banned worldwide.  How 'bout them apples?


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## RICKJJ59W (Sep 26, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  sandchip
> 
> Doesn't matter what we think.  The _majority_ of archs paint us as looters, and they're the ones the legislators and the media are gonna listen to when legislation is introduced restricting digging, collecting or selling what you find.  It's happened in several states.  Don't think it can't happen in yours.  The UN wants collecting of any antiquity banned worldwide.  How 'bout them apples?


 


 Like I said before, I will become a pirate. Quit my job and dig bottles under the cloak  of darkness. []


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## reach44 (Sep 26, 2013)

While scraping a hillside along a highway for shards and bottles, a trooper stopped and asked what I was doing and I told him I was picking up trash.  He left me alone.  []


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## GuntherHess (Sep 26, 2013)

I wouldn't worry about the UN. We don't even implement the things they come up with that seem like good ideas, We aren't likely to start with bottle digging.
 The biggest threat I see to diggers is the recent trend towards for-profit archaeology companies. 
 Instead of working off grants and donations they have to go out and round up work to get paid.
 Their goal is to have the laws dictate archeologists need to be brought in anytime anything old is found (like road being cut or  a privy during a house renovation maybe?)
 This puts them in direct  competition with diggers.
 The good old capitalist system bites us in the butt yet again.


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## Plumbata (Sep 27, 2013)

In a sense yes, but more like a "White-trash Indiana Jones" kinda looter than the thieves who go out and dig up Indian burials in the middle of the night. Digging dumps full of old garbage is very different from looting sacred and intentionally-arranged human burials.


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## sandchip (Sep 27, 2013)

> ORIGINAL:  Plumbata
> Digging dumps full of old garbage is very different from looting sacred and intentionally-arranged human burials.


 
 Not in the eyes of the GA DNR, I'm afraid.  They've gone nuts.


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## sunrunner (Nov 29, 2013)

*Re:  RE: bottle diggers....ever think of yourself as a looter?*

iv been a dump pirate for 42 years,whan I first started most people did not cair a dam what I found. then big money came along, and now every body thinks only how valuable thare myonas jar is.Well whan I cleanout some of my common stuff im at the flimarkit selling hoods,and duffys,and winslows for .75 cents.thares alwas more were thay came from.


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## surfaceone (Nov 29, 2013)

pchan said:
			
		

> ... and they referred to people looking for bottles as looters....digging bottles to sell...



Hey pchan, Consider the source of that "looters" quote: http://www.pbs.org/opb/timeteam/sites/ftjames/ "Obviously, another crucial source of information regarding Fort James was the membership of the Rockport Colony. Fortunately, several of the colony elders were anxious to share the information they possessed and to show us artifacts that had been collected over many years around the ruins of the Fort." http://www.pbs.org/opb/timeteam/sites/ftjames/diary_adrien.php Me, I'd consider it an honor to be called a "looter" by the likes of the Peoples Broadcasting Sychophants.


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## Penn Digger (Dec 2, 2013)

I have been called much worse. PD


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## nydigger (Dec 2, 2013)

Gunther, we might not implement them but our government must think some of the U.N's ideas are good. For example that little thing John Kerry signed called the small arms treaty. The U.N says jump this current administration says how high. If they propose a ban like that you better believe it will be considered.


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## tftfan (Dec 4, 2013)

Just recieved a book this wk. Not sure if it is ok to post a pic of the cover ? Looks like an interesting read ! Looks like the fox has been in the hen house for some.....time. []


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## tftfan (Dec 4, 2013)

so SMall....  sry.[&:]


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## surfaceone (Dec 4, 2013)

Hello Micah, I'd be interested to learn more about this book, please. That last sentence is pretty darned provocative...​​


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## tftfan (Dec 4, 2013)

http://shop.thunderbaygallery.com/Whitewashed-9781603072717.htm?categoryId=-1This is the book, hav'nt read it yet, but looks interesting !


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