Talk:Steven Collins (archaeologist)

Regarding DoA approval v. partnership
Regarding this edit, the Byers reference that immediately followed the statement that you removed states:
 * "One of the most important things that happened during the 2008 dig season was the completion of a joint agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. While we already have an excavation permit from the Kingdom's Department of Antiquities (DoA), we now have officially entered into a whole new level of relationship with the department. The Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project (TeHEP) is now a cooperative effort between the College of Archaeology, Trinity Southwest University and the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. This partnership allows for our excavation team to work hand-in-hand with our Jordanian counterparts both in the field during the excavation season as well as in the research lab the rest of the year. Their expertise will provide great insight and support to our research."

Your edit summary stated that "DoA permission is legally required for *any* archaeological work in Jordan; it in no way confers legitimacy on someone's ideas." You are correct that DoA permission was required and, as Byers states, it had already been approved. The decision to expand that relationship does indicate that the work was seen as valuable, though the extent to that was about the excavation results or Collins interpretation is debatable. Perhaps you might reflect on your change and perform a copyedit rather than simply remove a statement that was based in the source provided? 172.195.96.244 (talk) 10:13, 25 September 2021 (UTC)


 * That's a blog post from someone who works on the Tall el-Hammam excavations. If we had a source from someone at the DoA saying that this agreement is somehow a sign that they agree with Collins about where Sodom was, that would be something, but we don't. The DoA isn't usually in the business of assessing scientific hypotheses—it's a government department in charge of preserving heritage and regulating archaeological fieldwork—and it sounds like what the Tall el-Hammam people are talking about is just an agreement to extend their permit over several years, which is common for larger projects. –&#8239;Joe (talk) 10:53, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

It's a tragedy that Jordan gives excavation permits to creationists. Israel does it too. I once asked an Israeli archaeologist why this happens but he didn't have a good explanation. Zerotalk 11:30, 25 September 2021 (UTC)

Redirect target
The redirect target to Trinity Southwest University is deprecated as the Archaeological investigations section was completely deleted. I therefore changed the redirect target to Tall el-Hammam as this is likely what individuals searching for Collins will be looking for.4meter4 (talk) 01:17, 2 October 2021 (UTC)
 * This is a reasonable change. Qt.petrovich (talk) 09:58, 2 October 2021 (UTC)