[meteorite-list] Thank You - Was A fun Libyan Desert Glass Debate

From: kaolinite_at_ctc.net <kaolinite_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jun 11 20:12:59 2004
Message-ID: <1086999175-kaolinite-1.smmsdV2.0.3_at_localhost>

It was a fun and spirited discussion about the
"legality" of trading in / owning prehistoric artifacts
composed of Libyan Desert Glass. Given that 1. it
is quite obvious that between I and some people, a
middle ground on this discussion doesn't exist; 2.
some people find my arguments as unconvincing
as I found their arguments, and 3. I and other
people have expressed themselves enough for the
lurkers to understand each other's position, this is
a good time to agree to disagree about this topic
and let the topic cool down. Although I disagree
with them, I found your arguments quite interesting
and I shall think them over, while I attend to other
business.

(It might be fun to write a paper about this topic
for the Newsletter of the Delta Chapter of the
Louisiana Archaeological Society or even give a
talk on it at the Annual Meeting of the Louisiana
Archaeological Society. It not much, but that is
best that an amateur like me can expect to do.)

I think it would be fun to discuss this topic in more
detail in about 6 to 7 months, while I focus on my
bread and butter geologic work involving finding
sand, gravel, and road fill for companies; generating
oil and gas prospects, which I can sell; and, in my
spare time, research the topic of Egyptian artifacts
composed of Libyan Desert Glass in more detail.

An archaeologist friend has suggested that interested
parties can have a "rematch" on a mailing list associated
with the Ancient Near East ANE mailing list created
specifically for this topic whenever people are
ready for it this Fall. In that venue, some of the
archaeologists on the ANE Mailing Lists can also
participate and give us benefit of their expertise
concerning the complex legal and ethical questions
that entangled this discussion. It might even be
possible to find some sort of middle ground or
formulate guidelines for this controversy. Since
this topic is more archaeology than meteorites,
it will be on-topic and appropriate to discuss
matter on such a mailing list.

For interested people the archives of the ANE mailing
list can be found at:

https://listhost.uchicago.edu/pipermail/ane/
http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/ANE/OI_ANE.html

Finally, this discussion inspired my archaeologist
lady friend to come up with a "killer" idea for a
research proposal that the U.S. Customs Service
and the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquites have
expressed interest in providing joint funding for
a period of 9 months. Anyway, she thanks you-all
for all of the always fascinating, entertaining,
and novel arguments and the inspiration.

Thank You-All and
Best regards

Keith
ST. Tammany Parish, LA
Received on Fri 11 Jun 2004 08:12:55 PM PDT