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

[kaolinite at ctc.net]

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