Aug 2011- 2) Archaeologists who collect antiquities

Blogger Candice Jarman (People's archaeology blogspot) has problems understanding why archaeologists - for example in the United States and many European countries - do not encourage the collecting of antiquities - and yet it is claimed that many archaeologists themselves collect them.

Below is a nice lot of antiquities being sold by Woolley and Wallis, the Salisbury auctioneers on 13 September. Well worth a bid! The eye was previously in the collection of Cyril Aldred, the British Egyptologist, art historian and author, who was Keeper at the Royal Scottish Museum, and previously worked as a Curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

All reasonable people will see nothing wrong with archaeologists (or anyone else for that matter) collecting antiquities. Huge numbers of artifacts left source countries before 1970, and are in private hands. There is nothing any of the 'antis' can do about that!

Could the PAS as part of their public outreach inform members of the public who these so-called "antis" are, and what their position is and what the position of the PAS to the collecting of antiquities by professional archaeologists and museum employees. Should archaeologists collect antiquities? There seems some confusion in the public mind about this, can the PAS as part of its archaeological outreach clarify this issue? Thanks.

UPDATE 7/9/11: The only response to emerge from the PAS to this is that they are going to visit more metal detecting clubs, which seems a wholly inadequate response given the circumstances.