Apparently my recent posts have hit a nerve, as in Paul Barford’s response to them (scroll down or simply search my name). Read his most recent garbge, and take from it whatever you care. It’s obvious his anger, his hatred for anyone not an archaeologist, but again, you can make your own decision….
I have spent some time perusing his blog, and wonder how this individual has the time to post so many negative blurbs. They are not infrequent. They are every day, sometimes four or five times a day, and lengthy at that. Apparently it’s his only job, and his only joy in life. How sad….
The last paragraph in his most recent lengthy, and always confusing tirade…..
“Finally I really find highly amusing [having worked on sites from the Middle Palaeolithic, a couple of thousand year old hillforts and urban sites in Poland and Norway, Roman villas and forts in England, Anglo-Saxon villages, Late Iron Age saltworks, and more recently digging in Luxor Egypt not to mention in my career working through boxes and boxes of finds] to have a Texas metal detectorist suggesting that my critique of the conservation aspects of current policies on artefact hunting and collecting is due to “jealousy”. Of what? Finding Barber dimes, wheaties and corroded Confederate buckes and uniform buttons? He really has to be joking.”
Let me break that down in simple terms. He wants everyone to know that he one of the “elite” in his field, and we are not worth his time and effort. If that is so, and if what we find is of no interest to you Mr. Barfart, why don’t you piss off and leave us alone? Go dig a mummy, or scrounge through some more boxes.
And so it goes with Mr. Barford and Swiftie. Digging around the treasure hunting sites, skulking in metal detector stores, looking for one more thing to bitch about. As for me I think I will venture out today and see if I can find one of those Barber dimes he mentioned.
Maybe one day these two sad asses will come out of the shadows, grow up, get a life and be happy….
_________________
COMMENTS ON THIS AS WELL FROM THE MALAMUTE SALOON
I had been wondering why my friend from the Mayfly Pub has not been in contact, and I found out it was because he was in France, detecting (he hunts topless beaches exclusively), and sampling the grands vins. He didn’t share that with me ahead of time, knowing damn well that I would expect a case to show up at my door, but that’s okay. I will get even.
John Howland also weighs in on Mr. Barford, Mr. Swift and offers a few tips on using the Garrett ATPro at the beach. To read his latest diatribe, click on the Malamute Saloon link above. As for his comments about baseball cards, ignore them. His is simply talking out loud while in a stupor…
___________________
LATE STONE AGE…..WHEN DID IT START
Found the following article rather interesting……
Stone Age Poison Pushes Back Dawn Of Ancient
Civilization 20,000 Years
_________________
TROWBRIDGE COIN HOARD
Thanks to Joey Ortega for the following…..
Trowbridge Coin Hoard Metal Detector Ace
to Give Talk
______________________
MINELAB PIN-POINTER
Hope I am wrong about this, but I just saw where the new Minelab pinpointer will retail at $199.95. Are you kidding me? Really…give me a break. Years ago this kind of money would have bought you a metal detector. Apparently today we are so well off, and so damn lazy, that we will pay this kind of money for something to help us locate a find in an already, pinpointed and dug hole? I am ready to give up with all this…just blows my mind. If that’s your greatest need or want, all I can say is WOW!
Stout Standards 
I am old school…having started detecting in 1970…After 42 years… I still do not use an electronic pinpointer and have no desire to get one….my detector of choice has an all metal non-motion mode on it and I know how to detune it to help me in my recovery efforts…now with Minelab coming out with one at $199.99 just makes me laugh…with that kind of money I could buy a good used detector or even a few extra coils and/or accessories……or even better yet just bank that money so I can save toward getting a Garrett ATPro or ATGold later this year….Joe
Thanks for the reply Joe….I am in the same boat. I would much rather have that extra coil. Think we are both from that “old school”
If Barfart is not ‘jealous’ because people in this hobby only find Barber dimes and wheaties and the like, why does he make such a fuss? If he spends hours on end sifting through boxes of archaeolgical finds then it proves what a haphazard pursuit he’s engaged in.
In addition he really needs to get back to evening classes to tighten-up his excrutiating prose style – just look at the length of the confusing phrases in parenthesis for example.
Presumably, he’s worked on all these historic sites at his own expense? If not, and been paid a salary/contract fee, then he’s made more money out of the world’s heritage that all the rest of us treasure hunters put together.
The situation of metal detecting in the USA is much different than that of the UK. Here there are many public places we can search and find “our treasures”. Many of them a mere 500 years old at the most. In the UK there are finds going back almost 100 years, or more, and some in large caches or hoards. In the US many archaeological finds have been cataloged and stored away in massive storaged facilities, never to be seen by the public. In the U.K. archaeological finds, most found by permission on private property, are bought by museums and the finder, landowner are paid. The items get cataloged and shown in many museums.
So why would the U.K archaologists keep commenting on the US metal detectorists???? If we do find a Barber dime, or a civil war buckle–we get to keep it, or do whatever we want with it. If a British metal detectorist finds an artifact ( hammered silver, Roman gold coin or hoard or ancient coins) he has to report the find, gets paid for it, and get his name in newsprint for a spectacular find.
Why are those British archaeologists, so against metal detectorists??
Are they envious???
Yep, but they won’t tell you that. They will also BS you to death with double talk, as you will see from his instant response to your comment above. He is fast, has nothing else to do with his day or life, and I feel sorry for the guy. We have heard from others in the archaeological community who know about him, and they tend to shy away from talking about him. Go detecting, and let him sit in his dark room, typing away….
” in Paul Barford’s response to them (scroll down or simply search my name)”
Why not just provide a link to the actual text?
http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/2012/07/outwitted-continent-and-epoch-away.html
[On my blog, if you click on a post’s title it opens in a new window and in the toolbar at the top appears the link TO that specific post, which you can copy to use in your “response”].
Scrolling down will only lead your reader to the discovery that metal detecting is just ONE of the subjects my blog deals with.
Thanks, Mr. Barford… glad to give you space here. Hope those reading it can read the tome in it’s entirety. Will do my best to respond soon without all the many verbs and bullshit.