Talk:Steven Collins (archaeologist)

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

Biography: Science and Academia

	Biography portal This redirect is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This redirect is supported by the science and academia work group.

Archaeology Low‑importance

	This redirect is within the scope of WikiProject Archaeology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Archaeology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchaeologyWikipedia:WikiProject ArchaeologyTemplate:WikiProject ArchaeologyArchaeology articles
Low	This redirect has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Ancient Near East Low‑importance

	This redirect is within the scope of WikiProject Ancient Near East, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Ancient Near East related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Ancient Near EastWikipedia:WikiProject Ancient Near EastTemplate:WikiProject Ancient Near EastAncient Near East articles
Low	This redirect has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article was nominated for deletion on 21 September 2021. The result of the discussion was redirect.

Regarding DoA approval v. partnership

@Joe Roe: 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)[reply]

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. – Joe (talk) 10:53, 25 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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. Zero^talk 11:30, 25 September 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Redirect target

The redirect target to Trinity Southwest University#Archaeological investigations is deprecated as the Archaeological investigations section was completely deleted. I therefore changed the redirect target to Tall el-Hammam#Research history as this is likely what individuals searching for Collins will be looking for.4meter4 (talk) 01:17, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

This is a reasonable change. Qt.petrovich (talk) 09:58, 2 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]