AND A FINAL UPDATE 2nd April: National Geographic Channel Pulls ‘Nazi War Diggers’ Series.
UPDATE 31st March: Over the weekend both the New York Times and the Daily Mail have published pieces about this issue.
National Geographic Channel have outdone themselves with this clip from what looks to be an appalling ‘Archaeology’ of WW2 show called ‘Nazi War Diggers’ (Update – Clip seems to have been removed, No.. Back again, slightly edited…). The name alone raises alarm bells. The ‘talent’ who are charged to race ‘against time to save this history from being looted or lost’ are listed on the website as a metal detectorist, a World War 2 enthusiast and a ‘leading militaria and antique dealer’.
It’s caused quite a bit of concern in the archaeological community on Twitter and Facebook. The clip shows a femur roughly tugged from the ground and mistaken for a humerus. But it’s Okay – these tough digger guys shed some tears and get a little emotional about the War Dead.
Paul Barford has more on the Stars here.
Here’s Deathsplainings response..
Conflict Antiquities poses a number of questions to the producers here (and has received some sort of response) – update – National Geographic Channel are preparing a Q & A.
The initial defence of the programme has come on twitter from one of the presenters – Kris Rodgers who says (Update: Kris says he’s received threats, hatred and spite – Paul Barford elaborates.. Criticism of the clip is perfectly reasonable but threats, not nice – As Paul says ‘If people, archaeologists in particular, really have been doing this, then let’s name and shame them together’...) :
So that s alright then.. It’s TV right? There’s a comment facility on the clip page and Colleen Morgan has posted some contact details for anyone who wants to express their concern. There are some more twitter responses embedded below..
