Amateur Certification in Archaeology:

Abstract

Amateur and professional archeologists alike have called again and again for more public education, particularly as destruction of archeological sites has accelerated. Several programs focusing on education through certification programs are reviewed. Problems of amateur participation, relevance to the community and university, and publication are discussed. It is concluded that a well-planned program of amateur education and certification can be an effective tool in the creation of a public ethic of conservation. Through such a program, archeology can benefit amateurs and professionals, museums and schools, communities and individuals. In short, it offers the possibility of a true “public archeology.”     

Book Reviews: Archaeology

Viking America: The Norse Crossings and Their Legacy . JAMES ROBERT ENTER-LINE.
Viking Expansion Westwards . MAGNUS MAGNUSSON.     

Status and Role in Archaeology:

Abstract

Three categories of individuals currently interested in the recovery of prehistoric archaeological material on the Plains as well as in the United States generally, may be distinguished: the professional archaeologist, the amateur, and the pot-hunter, or vandal. Each of these types is placed in perspective in relation to the others and to the field of prehistoric archaeology, with special emphasis on the status and roles of different types of pot-hunters.

The amateur is aligned with the professional, especially in terms of objectives and approach, while each is differentiated in status and role from the existing variety of pot-hunters. The position is developed that pot-hunters decidedly do not comprise a homogeneous grouping, there being within their numbers at least 3 subtypes, each manifesting important differences.

Federal and state antiquities legislation is viewed as inadequate, by itself, to check the destruction of prehistoric sites, objects, and related material. Such laws must be coordinated, not only with the effort of the professional and the amateur in undertaking controlled excavations, but also with the equally important task of demonstrating to unwitting pot-hunters the implications of their destructive activity in contrast to the positive contributions of the scientific approach to antiquities.