Re: FBI charges 24 in American Indian artifact looting
Yes the theft from the folks that are supposedly taking care of them archeology material is going on, and may get worse. An easy thing to turn over for money.
Yet the relic hunter is usually not about the money (Some are but rare). They are about the perfecting the hunt, getting away to a different environment, and the artifact something like a kill, or trophy. Maybe a win of the card game fits.
I do not condone what these folks did, They broke the law: but I can understand they just took it to far.
Hobby gone mad.
One thing in the relic comunity that we seem to not talk about: is that it does become a problem for some folks.
Some were the "I am doing wrong" checks out. They get to the point of doing damage to themselves, others or community (Public property)
It is one of them things to: hobby, to obsession, to the hobby controlling you (or it has now become a problem for the individual) Strange enough folks that get caught will do it again. Crazy.
I suspect until the relic hunters them selves acknowledge there is a potential, and are people that have problems with relic hunting, such will just continue to tarnish, and make it easier for laws against relic hunting to happen.
Law enforcement, archeologist, and the general public see relic hunting as just about the money.
I like this part of what is quoted, "There was specific intent to exclude surface hunters."
Not to worry, other laws cover it. An attempt to justify something they are doing maybe.
uniface said:
Copied from another forum :
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http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=ab-archaeology&tid=8501)
rickd said:
I'm certainly not condoning the trafficking of artifacts from burials or protected land but i do think that many times the prosecutors are looking in the wrong direction for such looting. The collectors should have known better in this recent case. A review of the NAGPRA should remind those so critical of amateurs and collectors that the law was originally intended to protect such sites from federally funded institutions and programs that were looting the "professionally excavated "sites, not the collectors picking up surface finds. It was and still is in many cases the " fox in the hen house" where these excavations are concerned. My wife's family owned the Mann Mound property in Posey County Indiana and lost many artifacts at the hands of those whose interest was supposed to be the" protection" of our Native American heritage. Same situation happened at the Angel Mounds site in Indiana when Glenn Black was excavating years ago. Two large buildings full of "professionally excavated" cultural items gradually disappeared while supposedly under the watchful eye of those charged with the protective curation of the artifacts. Unfortunately, "understanding our nations past " is not always the motivation of every scholarly dig, as many of the items end up in the pro's private collections. In the Mann site case the catalogue of items taken, given to the family was far less than the university's display that they now show. The Mann family will never know the true number of artifacts looted by those they trusted to "gain a more clear understanding of the culture " that lived on their property so long ago. One would be foolish to think that personal greed never plays in among "professionals" and a search of some of their homes just may surprise those that are so trusting. Check out NAGPRA for a refresher of who was doing the looting and why the law was needed. There was specific intent to exclude surface hunters.
