Basil John Wait Brown (22 January 1888 – 12 March 1977) was an English archaeologist and astronomer. Self-taught, he discovered and excavated a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo in 1939, which has come to be called "one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time".

Other innovative amateurs who were open without agendas were Leonardo D'Vinci and the Wright brothers. Government-funded Harvard experts like Samual Langley could not solve the problem of controlled flight.

An armchair amateur archeologist doesn't have to be a genius to make a discovery. If one could dig down 10 meters they would find more than gas and sewer lines or unexploded armaments. If one is curious enough and study twice before digging once, I bet people would be surprised by what they find. My grandmother found rare Eohippus fossils (tiny horses) in the Midwest that were millions of years old.

If you are spry
give it a try
you'll be surprised
by what you find