rms in the matter of licences for export to
excavators and collectors, and the harsher provisions of some of the
existing laws are likely soon to be amended.
Before leaving home, the traveller will be well advised to make
inquiries at the museums or at the head-quarters of the
archaeological societies which concern themselves specially with
the places which he intends to visit. A list of these museums and
societies is appended to this section (p. 26). It is hardly necessary
to warn him that archaeological training cannot be acquired in a few
days, and that he will have to buy his experience in various ways;
but the more time he can devote to working through the collections in
this country, the more useful will be his observations abroad. He
will be able to learn what kind of antiquities it is especially
desirable to look for, not merely with the object of filling gaps in
the public collections, but for the advancement of archaeological
knowledge in general.
The object of archaeological travel and excavation is not to collect
antiquities so that they may be arranged according to the existing
catalogues of museums, but to collect fresh information to amplify
and correct what we now know, to make our knowledge of the past more
complete and useful.
On arrival in the country of his choice, he is recommended to
continue at the National Museum the study, which we suppose he has
already begun in the museums at home, of the kind of antiquities
which he is likely to come across. But he should also take an early
opportunity of getting into touch with the local British
Archaeological School or other similar institution, where he will
receive advice what to look for and where and how to look, and
assistance in procuring suitable equipment. Thus the traveller who
starts from Athens or Jerusalem should apply at the British School of
Archaeology. He may there, it he desires, receive instruction in any
of the methods described in Chapter II, in which a little practical
demonstration is worth pages of print, and will be given all possible
assistance in obtaining such articles of equipment as are available
on the spot. (Photographic supplies and all scientific instruments
should be brought out from England.) The best maps of the district
will also be accessible for examination (but the traveller is
recommended to make inquiries in this respect before leaving
England); the libraries will provide the literature dealing with the
rout
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