Oh give over. What, do archaeologists have some superhuman powers of patience when they painstakingly dig out finds? O how can they not rip the things out of the ground immediately in the heat and excitement of the moment? Well somehow they find the strength of will do they not.
The point is, the (bad) metal detectors don't want to be known as 'treasure hunters' but if they can't control themselves at the glint of a bit of metal then that's all they are. They're getting their kicks from the process of finding things, they ultimately don't care what the actual things are or the wider meaning of those things. In that sense it's a completely selfish sensation, they are sacrificing what our society can learn about our past for the fleeting adrenalin / endorphins of ripping the treasure out of the ground.
Yes it might be difficult to show a bit of self-restraint if you saw a gold torc sticking out of the ground. But if you really loved the item for itself, you would indeed (I don't know, but to go with your analogy) do a bit of long division or something. Because you'd want other people to get something out of it too, you wouldn't scrabble for it just for the short-lived rush of blood to the head.
Besides, if as a casual walker you saw a torc sticking out of the ground, it'd probably be a fluke as you were going along a field, you might grab it. But These People are well aware of what they're doing, they're doing as a hobby. So they KNOW all the issues and the discussions, they know damn well that if they found anything (and that is what they're out there to do) that there are Approved Ways of going about getting it out of the ground. There is no excuse, apart from sheer wilfulness to have their moment of treasure-hunting glory. And those recent finders of the coins, they took HOURS to get them out of the ground. You'd think the adrenalin would have worn off. You'd think they could have phoned the local museum. But apparently not.
You may say 'oh we have to pay these people or it'll end up on ebay' but no-one's saying the finding and the paying are mutually exclusive - they're absolutely not. They'll still get paid whether they rip it out of the ground or whether they call the archaeologist. So that is not relevant.
And you might say it'll get melted down or wind up lonely in a shed. Though one would hope it would fetch more on ebay in its original state than melted down. And it's sad to think of things sitting in sheds - but that end actually would prove that the Moment of Finding is far more important than the eventual actual object, and I would expect that's pretty common? But either way, those things now have no provenance and so are virtually meaningless, they're just pretty objects adrift. They've lost a lot of their value through being taken away from their context - you'd think that'd be monetary value as well.
And there we are - why are people being paid the full whack for items that have been ripped out? If the money was docked, that would surely encourage a better attention to the Rules? To say 'these people can't help themselves' encourages that type of behaviour, because there's no stigma attached to it. If they're so simple and have to be prodded and cunningly encouraged into handing over their Loot by the lure of big cash prizes, then I think that's absolutely got to be taken to its logical conclusion ie you don't get the money if you haven't abided by the rules. It's just basic psychology you'd use on your children, like if you haven't eaten your first course you don't get your pudding. Surely. And I don't understand why this isn't enforced. It's patronising to portray these metal detectors as unsophisticated human beings who can't control their passions.
People are just fundamentally selfish I know. But if someone pretends to be interested in this country's heritage and finding artefacts that tell us about our past, then they should show a bit of intelligence and have the decency to recognise finding Treasure is not all about Me Me Me. They can have the cash for chrissakes. Isn't that good enough compensation for having to defer the gratification of taking your find out of the ground until a careful excavator gets there? These people obviously get a lot of pleasure from accepting the cheque. You don't often hear about them magnanimously donating the objects to museums.
Tch.
