[meteorite-list] Legality of Libyan Desert Glass Artifacts Discussion Continued

[kaolinite at ctc.net]

Nick wrote"

.text deleted...

>As for your argument, and your "condensation" 
>of what I and others have said, it is your logic 
>that is bankrupt not their postings.  Picking an 
>LDG flake up off the shifting sandy desert floor, 
>where it might not otherwise be seen again is 
>not like stealing a stereo from a car.  If you want 
>to make a valid analogy to finding an LDG 
>flake in the desert, then it should be "picking 
>up a stereo from the side of a road where it had 
>been discarded."  If you want to make a valid 
>analogy to stealing a car stereo, then it should 
>be "stealing a piece of LDG from a museum 
>or private showcase." 

First, the condensation "...it may be illegal, 
but so what?..." is not mine. Instead came from
a post made by a professional archaeologist to
the "Archaeology List". The full post can
found at:

http://listserv.tamu.edu/cgi/wa?A2=ind0406&L=arch-l&F=&S=&P=4205

The logic that you claim is bankrupt came from a 
fully credentialed and practicing archaeologist, 
who is a professor at a major university as evident
from the header identity on the post at the above 
URL.

Although you claim to have been a practicing 
archaeologist, museum curator, and repatriator, the 
professional archaeologists, whom I have discussed 
this with, all disagree with your assessment of the 
legality of collecting and or Libyan Desert Glass. 
Quite Clearly,  the professional, who replied to my 
inquiry to the "Archaeology List" disputed your analysis,
as have other archaeologists, with whom I and
friends have contacted. I suspect that they would 
find your logic in the last post to quite bankrupt. 
If anyone is engaging in false morality, it is certainly 
not me.

Despite what you have stated, he and other
professional archaeologists have made it very clear, 
contrary to you have claimed, me that even picking 
an LDG flake up off the shifting sandy desert floor 
and transporting it / exporting it without permission 
from either Egypt or Libya is unethical and illegal 
behavior. It doesn't matter if this Egyptian or Libyan 
artifact is in a museum of not. It is still looting and 
it is still unethical and immoral according to the 
archaeologists, whom I have talked to.

Yours,

Keith Littleton.
St. Tammany Parish