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Saying NA weren't the first -- ADV Reporter, 08:13:35 04/09/01 Mon

http://www.canada.com/cgi-bin/np.asp?f=/news/nationalpost/stories/20010407/5
26555.html

PORTLAND, Ore. - At first, they thought the bones in the muddy shallows of
the Columbia River were a joke.

Two college students watching a hydroplane race near Kennewick, Wash., were
wading when one saw what he thought was a rock resembling a skull and
hoisted it out to frighten his friend. Instead, the skull and the human
skeleton the men uncovered six years ago threatened to turn history on its
head and started a custody battle that is due to conclude in a Portland
courtoom in June.

When the Benton County coroner called in forensic anthropologist James
Chatters to review the case, the scientist thought he was dealing with the
remains of a 19th-century settler.

As he examined the skull and checked off a standard government form, Dr.
Chatters labelled the remains Caucasoid because of its narrow face, long
head and jutting chin.

"The skull was immediately European-like -- long, narrow, very constricted
behind the eyes, with a very prominent nose," he says. "I immediately got
the impression I was dealing with a European, probably an early Kennewick
pioneer. I had no idea where this story was going at that point."

But closer examination raised some curious questions.

The scientist soon decided he was investigating the death of a robust,
muscular, middle-aged man, about 5 feet 9 inches tall and aged 44 to 55. He
had lived a battle-scarred existence, including fractures of at least six
ribs, a withered left arm and a partially healed injury to the right hip.

When the bones were scanned in a laboratory, the forensic anthropologist
discovered the tip of a leaf-shaped stone spear embedded in the hip.

"The point raised the possibility of great antiquity," Dr. Chatters says.
"We either had an ancient individual with physical characteristics unlike
later native peoples' or a trapper-explorer who'd had difficulties with
Stone Age peoples during his travels."

To solve the mystery, the coroner ordered radiocarbon dating tests of a
small bone chip.

To Dr. Chatters' amazement, the bone was estimated to be 9,320 to 9,510
years old, making Kennewick Man one of the oldest skeletons discovered in
North America.

In an instant, the bones threatened to overthrow everything scientists
thought they knew about how North and South America were populated.

The skeleton, with its distinct non-native American features, immediately
undermined the "We were here first and you stole our land" theories and
raised the fascinating possibility Ice Age Europeans may have trickled into
the region up to 8,000 years before the first known European presence.

It was possible scientists would use Kennewick Man to show the New World was
populated by a multi-cultural throng of peoples who have long since
vanished.

The implications for the prehistory of North and South America were immense.

"I really hope that a lot of native American people do not feel threatened
or think that these new ideas jeopardize their claims to traditional lands,"
says Rob Bonnichsen, director of the Center for the Study of the First
Americas at Oregon State University.

"But they, like some of the rest of us, may have come in fairly late. Maybe
they were only here for a few hundred years or a few thousand years."

While scientists were fascinated by the possibilities, other groups
scrambled to further their own causes. White supremacist organizations
gloated at the idea of North America being first populated by Europeans,
instead of by Indians. A cult of neo-Vikings from northern California, known
as the Asatru Folk Assembly, claimed the Kennewick skeleton was an ancient
Viking warrior.

Then the U.S. government stepped in.

Days after scientists dated the bones last September, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers -- it controls the land on which the remains were found -- ruled
the skeleton should be regarded as "native American" and handed over to five
local tribes.

The Army based its decision on a 1991 federal law, the Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, designed to protect native American
burial sites from being disturbed and return all ancestral remains held in
U.S. museum collections.

The local tribes instantly said they would refuse any further scientific
study of Kennewick Man and they intended to bury the skeleton in a secret
location after holding a religious ceremony for their "ancient ancestor."

"We don't want these remains studied or destroyed, because of our belief
that these human remains are sacred," says Armand Minthorn, a spokesman for
the Confederation of Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation.

"Our sacred human remains should not be a product to generate data for the
'people.' We already know about our past. We have oral histories that go
back 10,000 years. We know where our people lived, how they lived, what they
lived by."

Alarmed by the government's decision to allow the tribes to dispose of
Kennewick Man, a group of leading U.S. anthropologists and archeologists
launched a court appeal to prevent the skeleton's burial.

After five years of legal manoeuvring, a ruling is expected in June.

"In effect, the government's decision to culturally affiliate this skeleton
was arbitrary and capricious," says Alan Schneider, a lawyer for eight
scientists who are suing to study Kennewick Man.

U.S. government officials argue it's "not likely any relationship of lineal
descent can be made" and say they relied on "cultural affiliation" -- a
variety of geographic, kinship, archeological, linguistic and oral tradition
factors -- to decide Kennewick Man should be classified as a native
American.

"We believe Kennewick Man was born, lived out his life and died in this part
of the country about 9,000 years ago," says Dr. Francis McManamon, chief
archeologist with the U.S. National Parks Service.

"His ancestors were almost certainly Asian. These distant ancestors were
part of the initial movement of people from northeastern Asia that gradually
crossed the Bering Land Bridge or paddled along its shoreline when the land
bridge was exposed thousands of years before their descendant lived along
the Columbia River."

Other relatives of Kennewick Man probably moved into what is now Japan,
coastal China and the islands of the Pacific, he adds.

The scientists don't want to concede anything just yet. They want time to
think about it.

"If scientific study is closed off, a very rare and valuable set of skeletal
remains will be lost," says Dr. Bonnichsen.

"The picture is complex and we'll never know what that picture is unless we
have the privilege to study ancient remains

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[> Re: Saying NA weren't the first -- Nick, 00:57:57 07/17/01 Tue

I just stumbled onto this article while surfing the web. I can'y believe those idiot scientists classified the skeleton as "native American". Of coarse it's native American. Why couldn't it be? Oh, wait, wait...genetic testing already proved that it was Caucasin!! What a bunch of morons! That one stone with the Nordic runes all over it was dicovered a few years back (maybe decades, i don't remember) somwhere in the US, and it was established that Vikings had been here a long time ago. I agree witht he Asatru Folk Assembly, it's a Scandanavian ancestor, plain and simple. The skeleton should be given to the AFA.

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Chief hopes curse haunts graverobbers -- Adv Reporter, 08:24:39 04/09/01 Mon

Chief hopes curse haunts graverobbers

Suzanne Fournier
The Province

VANCOUVER - Lyackson Chief Richard Thomas wants the people who desecrated
his relatives' graves and scattered human bones to know that they've
committed a dangerous act of disrespect.

The cemetery established in 1875 on Valdes Island (between Vancouver Island
and the mainland), is a "significant heritage site" with 16 architectural
monuments and about 50 graves, says archeologist Eric McLay, who discovered
the damage.

Four graves were broken into and fresh digging disturbed a human femur and
vertebrae.

But Mr. Thomas and Mr. McLay say that in Coast Salish tradition, allowing a
child near a grave, tampering with a grave or even going near a graveyard at
dusk "has spiritual consequences.

"I would hope whoever did this would have a conscience to bother him, but we
do believe there are consequences that will befall people who desecrate our
sacred sites," says Mr. Thomas.

"The whole of Valdes Island is sacred to us: the burial caves, the village
sites and the cemeteries where our grandfathers and grandmothers lie
buried."

Agrees McLay: "It's a kind of a curse, and curses still work in the Coast
Salish tradition."

Mr. McLay, whose work is funded by the B.C. Heritage Trust grant, was
investigating how to restore and secure the cemetery, when he discovered the
damage.

Of five brick sarcophagi at the site, two were damaged and a third grave,
already covered by a cement slab to deter vandals, had had its cover lifted
and cracked.

Gabriola Island RCMP Constable Todd Eppler says the vandals likely came by
private boat to Valdes Island, which has no ferry, no Hydro.

Const. Eppler and Mr. Thomas acknowledge the vandals may have been trying to
recover silver, textiles or wooden artifacts from the graves, which command
high prices from unscrupulous antique dealers or pawn shops.

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Grave Issues divide state -- Adv Reporter, 08:21:44 04/09/01 Mon

The Billings Outpost
April 6, 2001
Grave issues divide state: Researchers fight remains repatriation
By: RON SELDEN, For The Billings Outpost
HELENA - Despite opposition from a coalition of scientific researchers,
including the lead plaintiff in the so-called "Kennewick Man" case, the
Montana Senate has approved a major human-remains repatriation bill.
After hours of rewriting and days of debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee
passed an amended version of House Bill 165 last week by an 8-1 margin.
The full Senate voted 47-1 last Saturday to pass the measure, which expands
Montana's 1991 Human Skeletal Remains and Burial Site Protection Act. HB165
is sponsored by Rep. Gail Gutsche, a Missoula Democrat.
Current state law says that remains and burial objects found on state or
private land since July 1, 1991, must be reviewed by the Montana Burial
Preservation Board if the items are deemed to be "archaeologically
significant." The 13-member board, largely made up of tribal
representatives, helps determine if the material is tied to present-day
descendants, tribal or otherwise.
Ms. Gutsche's proposal, which passed the Montana House by a 95-4 margin in
January, includes remains and burial objects discovered at nonfederal sites
in the state prior to 1991.
The bill covers publicly held collections, as well as those claimed by
private landowners. It also sets up a detailed process for returning the
materials to parties that can show they're directly related or "culturally
affiliated" with the discoveries.
The bill specifically states that human remains and the objects left with
them are not considered to be abandoned property that can be "owned" by a
discoverer. In addition, returning the items can not be considered an
unlawful "takings" without compensation.
In the Senate, HB165 drew protests from archeologists and others concerned
that it will prompt a wave of potentially frivolous claims on bones and
artifacts. The fracas has drawn in the governor's office, museum owners,
property-rights activists, ranchers and tribal leaders, who want to ensure
their ancestors are treated with respect and dignity - and not studied like
a school project.
"This bill honors the sanctity of graves," Ms. Gutsche told the Judiciary
Committee at a March 20 hearing. "This is about preserving. This is about
protecting. There's no guarantee in this bill that anyone will ever claim
anything."

Bones for the ages
One of HB 165's main opponents is Robson Bonnichsen, an Oregon State
University anthropologist and director of the school's Center for the Study
of the First Americans in Corvallis, Ore. Mr. Bonnichsen and seven other
scientists filed suit in 1996 against the U.S. Corps of Engineers over
skeletal remains found earlier that year in a Columbia River reservoir in
Kennewick, Wash.
The corps laid claim to the 9,000-year-old bones, and federal officials
planned to turn the skeleton over to a coalition of five area tribes under
the federal 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or
NAGPRA, upon which Montana's burial law is based.
That move prompted the scientists' court action. Trial in the case is
tentatively set for June in Portland. A prime question the plaintiffs want
answered is: Exactly who is a Native American?
Sen. Lorents Grosfield, R-Big Timber, a bill co-sponsor and chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, received dozens of letters and e-mails lobbying against
HB165. Copies were sent to Republican Gov. Judy Martz, who publicly supports
the measure.
The "Friends of America's Past" website, dedicated to the Kennewick Man case
and similar battles around the country, in January posted a sample letter to
Mr. Grosfield and Gov. Martz that spelled out researchers' opposition to
HB165. The letter, signed by Mr. Bonnichsen, and an accompanying "Action
Alert" said the Montana bill should be killed because it would affect the
study of ancient remains.
"I have grave concerns for the future of archeological research and the
preservation of significant early human remains in the state of Montana if
HB165 is passed," Mr. Bonnichsen wrote, adding that one of the state's
premier discoveries of artifacts - the Anzick Collection - may be threatened
by the bill. "The majority of human remains that have been and are likely to
be found in the state of Montana constitute what are known as unidentified
and unaffiliated human remains."
The Anzick Collection was discovered in 1968 by landowners in Park County
and initially included the skeletal remains of two children and more than
100 objects carbon-dated to be 11,000 to 13,000 years old. These Clovis-era
artifacts are one of the oldest finds in the country and must be kept
available for scientific review, Mr. Bonnichsen wrote.
The site is also in Mr. Grosfield's Senate district.
"The national and international significance of this unique discovery can
not be overestimated," Mr. Bonnichsen told Mr. Grosfield and Gov. Martz.
"Will school children have an opportunity to learn of the achievements of
the Clovis people, or will the Anzick remains be placed in the ground in
deference to the wishes of a modern group that may have no connection to the
Anzick people?"
According to state officials, no tribal groups have filed claims against the
collection, which was displayed at the Montana Historical Society's museum
in Helena from 1988 until controversy over Ms. Gutsche's bill flared this
winter. Since then, says Director Arnie Olsen, two of the three landowners
have removed their share of the artifacts - minus the bones - which are
reportedly stored in another locale.
The amended bill was approved by all Judiciary Committee members except Sen.
Ric Holden, R-Glendive, who also cast the only vote against the bill on the
Senate floor on Saturday. The bill exempts the Anzick Collection artifacts
from repatriation, but not the bones. It also provides protections for
scientists by allowing at least temporary study of some remains.
Academic rights or cultural propriety?
In an interview, Mr. Olsen acknowledged the historical society has been in
an uncomfortable position with Ms. Gutsche's bill. While he testified as a
proponent at a Jan. 12 House hearing, it was also revealed that he was
pushing the Anzick Collection exemption, asking that relinquishment of
artifacts from private parties be voluntary, and trying to diminish the
burial board's authority.
After the society's amendments surfaced, House Judiciary Committee Chairman
Jim Shockley, R-Victor, told Mr. Olsen he had to be listed as an opponent of
the bill. Despite that determination, Mr. Olsen filed lobbying documents
with the state Commissioner of Political Practices on Feb. 5 that still say
he was a proponent. Asked about the discrepancy, Mr. Olsen said he's "not an
expert on legislative procedure."
"I offered the testimony as a proponent because we in the past have acted on
behalf of repatriation," he said. "The bill goes beyond what any other state
has, as far as we know. We had some concerns and we expressed those. This
bill clearly sets precedents. It's clear other people are watching it."
Mr. Olsen also acknowledges he prepared a January briefing report for Gov.
Martz that tears into the bill. The report warns that it will be "front-page
news" if the Anzick Collection is removed.
"Much of the good of the bill for human remains may be overshadowed by these
private collection concerns," he wrote. "Others will be alarmed by this
press notification and could take similar actions. The loss to primary
exhibits at the historical society will be evident to all visitors since
there is nothing like it to put in its place." He added that the collection
could be sold or exhibited in another state if HB165 is approved.
"It's part of our job," he said, to highlight concerns about the bill, as
well as outlining its potential benefits. "It's our job to lay out how it
impacts not only us, but the museums and private parties."
Mr. Olsen said he understands tribal concerns about burial sites, and he's
not against releasing bones where cultural affiliation can be determined.
Artifacts are another story, he said, especially with older sites where it's
difficult to know who or what came from where.
"We're here to do what we think is right, whether it's popular or not," he
explained. "We don't do things based on popularity but based on scientific
and technical information. We work hard to work with the tribes in many,
many areas, and we want to maintain those relationships."
If HB165's amendments are approved by the House and the bill is signed by
Gov. Martz, about 200 museums will be required to inventory their bones and
related objects and give lists to the burial board, the state's historical
preservation office and to all tribal governments in the state.
Parties that believe they have a claim to any of the material could file a
formal request for repatriation and a hearing process would be triggered.
Any appeals of the board's decision would be handled in state district
court.

Lobbying with the dead
In a telephone interview, Mr. Bonnichsen said he had been in contact with
historical society employees about HB165, but had not talked to Mr. Olsen
directly. Nonetheless, activism against the bill stirred up correspondence
to Mr. Grosfield and Gov. Martz from as far away as Europe and South
America, as well as across the United States.
"Personally, I have very little heart left for saying anything polite about
either the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act or any state
complements or supplements thereto," wrote Gene Galloway of Council Bluffs,
Iowa. "Native American claims to old or ancient remains under these
authorities have been largely indiscriminate, inflexible and complete. The
usual native position is that these are all 'ancestors' and generational
distance makes no difference. Their claims are emotional, religious,
politically correct and insane."
Steve Kohntopp of Filer, Idaho, adds, "I have a great respect for the dead,
but also view that it is of utmost importance that we allow scientific
examination prior to burial to help interpret our cultural past, which may
or may not include our Indian friends. They should also be interested, but I
somehow think that their decisions to seek protection under this bill helps
maintain a continuing monetary gain for their culture. How sad for all
Americans."
Other writers take a property-rights angle and question Indians' abilities
to distinguish time within their own culture.
"The threat of this unlawful taking of private property will have
devastating effect on landowners and collectors who have lawfully assembled
a collection over the years," wrote David Bobb of Ashland, Ore. "At any time
a disgruntled Native American can allege that a private citizen has illegal
objects in his possession and could have their entire collection confiscated
without due process and it would be incumbent upon them to prove these items
are not 'funerary objects.'"
"Many Native Americans do not comprehend the temporal boundaries of modern
ethnic groups," concludes Laura Miotti, an anthropology professor at the
National University of La Plata in Argentina. "As scientists, we support
Native American human rights issues. Yet, our support will not come in the
form of agreeing to destroy the record from the remote past."
Mr. Bonnichsen maintains state officials are being misled and HB165 will
stir up more problems than it solves. The Senate amendments clearly don't
address all of his concerns.
"Everyone in Montana seems to have their heads in a snowbank over this," he
said. "I think it's a dysfunctional piece of legislation that's already on
the books, and this bill would tie into that. I think it really behooves
Montana to see what's going on in the Kennewick Man case. It's going to have
a lot of impact with what happens with that legislation. I think the Montana
Legislature should wait on this bill."

Drawing the line
Despite the fact that many tribal leaders say their cultures are essentially
ageless, Mr. Bonnichsen said timelines should be put inserted in the bill so
frivolous claims can't proceed. A suitable span, he contends, would be about
1,500 years, because bones and objects older than that can't be
scientifically tied to modern tribal groups. The Senate Judiciary Committee,
however, didn't add in any historical timelines.
"There's no human culture that's lasted 12,000 years," Mr. Bonnichsen
explained. "It's really quite arbitrary, but it's tough to connect with
anything more than 1,500 years old. If there's a clear connection, I have no
problem with them being returned to tribes. But there's no way to trace
these remains to present-day people.
"I think it's a case of very well meaning people who don't know the issues,"
he added. "It's a very complicated situation. The question is how on the one
hand to be fair to Native Americans and on the other hand, how to be fair to
society. Unfortunately, we're involved with a lot of identity politics."
Tribal cultural leaders, however, take issue with white-man time clocks.
"We never asked science to make a determination as to our origins," Cheyenne
River Sioux repatriation officer Sebastian LeBeau said in a New York Times
account about the Kennewick Man conflict. "We know where we came from. We
are the descendants of the Buffalo people. They came from inside the earth
after supernatural spirits prepared this world for humankind to live here.
If non-Indians choose to believe they evolved from an ape, so be it."
"It is not for us to keep as personal property," Tony Incashola, director of
the Flathead Reservation's Salish-Pend d'Oreilles Culture Committee, says of
human remains and ceremonial artifacts. "It is not for us to study. They
need to be respected. They need to be handled properly. They need to come
home."
But according to Mr. Bonnichsen, Montanans are being led into a bad
situation.
"All it takes is one group of people to make a claim," he said, adding that
tribes here could form coalitions, as they did in Washington state. "There's
every reason to believe that same kind of behavior would happen in Montana.
The law leaves it open as to who can make claims. This thing could cost the
state of Montana a whole lot of money if the lawyers jump in. I sincerely
hope Mr. Olsen will step up to the plate on this."
But Rep. Norma Bixby, D-Lame Deer, testifying in favor of the bill at a
recent hearing, said it's time for the state to take another step toward
protecting native rights.
"To me it is a sad time when the bones and objects of our ancestors are
considered to be property," she said. "Montana needs to follow in the
footsteps of the federal government."
Shawn White Wolf, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, told lawmakers
that the main issue is respect.
"If I ever see (my mother) in a museum, if I ever see her studied on a
table, I would be devastated," he said. "I hope you won't allow that to
happen to my mother or my father."
After the Judiciary Committee pounded out the changes, Ms. Gutsche and
tribal leaders said they were still generally happy with the bill.
"I think the amendments were a good compromise," Ms. Gutsche said. "I would
have liked the Anzick Collection kept in, but the human remains still are.
HB165 fills in the gaps the current law has. Now we have ongoing protection.
In some ways, that's an example of how the legislative process works best,
with all parties getting into a room and working it out."
"This is just a difficult process, but we now have a bill I think everyone
can live with," Mr. Olsen said last week. "I've never seen a bill yet that
at the start everyone loves and holds hands with."

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Greed even in tribes -- Advocate Investigator, 08:19:23 04/09/01 Mon

Los Angeles Times
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?slu
g=mask07&date=20010407
A ceremonial mask was the centerpiece of an unusual archaeological looting
case in which an art dealer recruited two Hopi men to help him obtain a
"friends" mask - believed to be a living thing and used in secret male
ceremonies. The taboo against tribal members taking part in looting their own
heritage is severe: One of the Hopi suspects committed suicide within a week
of his arrest.
But financial need often triumphs over taboo, and diggers go where the big
money lies: the graves. Indians buried their finest objects with the dead.
Textiles that survive several centuries are highly prized at art auctions.
And infants typically were buried with their toys; such rare and tiny objects
bring high prices.
The demand for skulls and bones is more difficult to gauge, but buying and
selling does take place. "If you think there is no market for human remains,
you would be sadly mistaken," said John Farley, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based
special investigator for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company
ref: nagpra }
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

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Artifacts Related -- Dutch, 08:16:25 04/09/01 Mon

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?s
lug=artifacts07&date=20010407

BLANDING, Utah - As he raced his pickup south from Moab toward the red
sandstone canyons here, Rudy Mauldin kicked himself for not thinking of it
before.

He and his partner, Bureau of Land Management special agent Bart Fitzgerald,
knew priceless artifacts had been looted from a remote Indian grave site. A
burial blanket had been stripped off the remains of an infant and the skull
tossed on a trash heap. They had a suspect but no link to the crime.

Then they remembered the backfill, the pile of dirt the digger left. They
sped back to the crime scene at Horse Rock Ruin. As sunlight faded from the
remote canyon, they found their tiny but mighty evidence: a cigarette butt.

Antiquity-theft DNA evidence

After a crime lab extracted DNA from the filter tip, Mauldin and Fitzgerald
got their man - perhaps their most-wanted archaeological thief.

The 1995 prosecution of Earl K. Shumway was a watershed for the little-known
Archaeological Resources Protection Act, enacted in 1979. His case was the
first in which DNA evidence led to a conviction for antiquities theft.
Shumway's 5-year sentence was the longest for such a crime.

More ARPA crimes are prosecuted in Utah than anywhere else in the nation.
American Indians are fed up with thieves rooting around in their ancestors'
graves, and authorities liken it to looting the National Archives.

"It just makes you sick," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Dance, who has
won more felony convictions in ARPA cases than anyone. "I view this crime to
be highly important to society, because of the irreplaceable nature of the
loss."

Experts estimate more than 80 percent of American Indian archaeological
sites, some 17 centuries old, have been looted.

A grave robber from youth

It falls to U.S. Park Service and Forest Service employees and BLM agents to
find the remote crime scenes, cull clues from sand and rock and track the
thieves.

Any lawman looking for looters crosses paths with Shumway, 42, who once
bragged to authorities that he had been robbing graves since he was 3. His
father worked the family's hardscrabble uranium mines, and little Earl often
would tag along, poking into caves and burial mounds. They took what they
found and considered it theirs.

That sense of entitlement, investigators say, stems from the belief that the
artifacts are abundant. Archaeologists often catalog sites but don't
immediately excavate them, which can lead the public to wrongly conclude
that they are not historically important.

There also is the sheer volume of objects to be found with little effort:
pot shards, arrowheads, cave walls crowded with pictograms and petroglyphs.
In Utah's San Juan County alone, there are an estimated 20,000 known
archaeological sites on BLM land. More than 90 percent have been looted. In
the Four Corners area, "if you walk 20 feet and cannot find something, you
are not looking," BLM archaeologist Kathy Huppe said.

A marketplace commodity

With the market for Southwest art and artifacts at an all-time high, the
temptation is to view Indian ruins less as scientific and historic treasure
troves than as next month's rent.

And the hunted often are better equipped than the hunters.

Shumway has hired helicopters to drop him into remote sites, while other
looters often use high-tech climbing equipment and rappel down cliffs.

Methods of retrieving fragile artifacts are not always subtle. In some
cases, bulldozers, backhoes and trenching machines smash through material
that may be hundreds of years old to get to the more valuable, deeply
buried, prehistoric layers. Repairing the damage is expensive: The rule of
thumb is that the cost for an archaeologist to move a meter of dirt is
$5,000.

High cost, few clues

The cost of investigating ARPA crimes, which often can take years to solve,
also is astronomical.

"You get to one of these old caves, where people have been tramping around
for thousands of years, and you've got a real dang puzzle on your hands,"
Mauldin said. "You find more evidence at your average murder scene."

Investigators search for identifying marks, even taking casts of shovel
holes to look for notches that may come from a certain digger's tools. In
crime scenes that can stretch across miles of desert, even the most crafty
criminal sometimes leaves a calling card.

"Earl (Shumway) was known for drinking Mountain Dew at his sites. We found
the cans all over the place and could tie him to scenes because of that,"
Mauldin explained.

Mauldin knows the market regulates archaeological looting in a way that law
enforcement cannot.

"It's the greatest treasure hunt in the world, that's how they see it," he
said. "Look around. It's out here. And they'll keep looking for it. And
we'll keep looking for them."

Shumway, who did not show up after agreeing to an interview for this story,
is still out there. He pleaded guilty in the Horse Rock Ruin case to seven
felony counts of stealing Anasazi artifacts and was sentenced to 6-1/2 years
in federal prison. The sentence was reduced on appeal to 60 months. He is
back living in the Moab area.

Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company

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KY LAWS -- Sacred Heart, 04:40:41 04/05/01 Thu

Code Book: Kentucky Revised Statutes
Citation: §164.705 through §164.735
Section Title: Archeology

Summary:

Declares it to be the policy of the commonwealth to preserve archeological sites and objects of antiquity for the public benefit and to limit exploration, excavation and collection of such matters to qualified persons and educational institutions possessing the requisite skills and purpose to add to the general store of knowledge concerning history, archeology and anthropology. Prohibits a person from willfully injuring, destroying or defacing an archeological site or object of antiquity situated on lands owned or leased by the commonwealth or a state agency or a political subdivision of the commonwealth. Requires a person to obtain a permit from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky before exploring, excavating, appropriating or removing an archeological site or object of antiquity located on such lands, upon recommendation of the agency owning or controlling the land. Directs that permits shall be regularly granted to reputable museums, universities, colleges or other recognized scientific or educational institutions with a view to promoting the knowledge of archeology or anthropology for the public benefit. Requires that permits shall be issued upon such conditions as the department shall deem advisable for maximum effective exploration with a minimum of injury to the surrounding terrain. Directs that each permit shall terminate upon the following December 31, subject to annual renewal on or before the following January 15. Allows the department to revoke a permit at any time upon finding that explorations or excavations authorized by the permit are not being conducted lawfully or properly. Authorizes the department to designate archeological sites and objects of antiquity and cause to be posted signs or markers at the locations thereof. Requires a person who discovers an archeological site or object of antiquity in the course of construction work or otherwise to report such discovery to the department. Enables the department to enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with private landowners relating to the preservation and property exploration of any archeological site or object of antiquity situated on such private land. Authorizes the department to acquire for preservation, with funds available to it for such purposes, an archeological site or object of antiquity.


Primary Topic: Archeological Activities


Secondary Topic:
Permit / Site Investigation Authority

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Code Book: Kentucky Revised Statutes
Citation: §164.990
Section Title: Penalties: archeology
Summary:

(1) Declares that a person is guilty of a Class D felony who willfully injures, destroys or defaces an archeological site or object of antiquity situated on lands owned or leased by the commonwealth or a state agency or a political subdivision of the commonwealth or who explores, excavates, appropriates or removes an archeological site or object of antiquity located on such lands without a permit obtained from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky. Requires that the violator shall forfeit to the state all equipment used in committing the offense.


Primary Topic: Archeological Activities


Secondary Topic:
Violation / Penalty / Enforcement

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Code Book: Kentucky Revised Statutes
Citation: §433.873
Section Title: Wrongful disturbance or damage to cave surfaces or material found therein
Summary:

(1)(e) Prohibits a person, without the express, prior written permission of the owner, from willfully and knowingly excavating, removing, destroying, injuring, defacing or disturbing any burial grounds, historic or prehistoric resources, archeological or paleontological site, including fossils, bones, relics, inscriptions, saltpeter works, remains of historical human activity or any other such features that may be found in any cave, except those caves owned by the commonwealth or designated as commonwealth archeological sites or zones and are subject to the provisions of §164.705 through §164.735.


Primary Topic: Archeological Activities


Secondary Topic:
Cave Activity

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Code Book: Kentucky Revised Statutes
Citation: §433.879
Section Title: Excavation permits; requirements; supervision by state archeologist and Kentucky Heritage Council
Summary:

Requires a person to obtain a permit from the state archeologist prior to excavating or removing any archeological, paleontological, prehistoric or historic feature of a cave, in addition to obtaining the written permission of the land owner pursuant to §433.873. Authorizes the state archeologist to issue such a permit if it is in the best interest of the commonwealth and if the applicant is a historic, scientific or educational institution, professional archeologist or qualified amateur. Directs that such permits shall be issued for a period of two years and may be renewed upon expiration. Requires that all field investigations, exploration or recovery operations undertaken under this section shall be carried out under the general supervision of the state archeologist and the Kentucky Heritage Council and in a manner to ensure that the maximum amount of historic, scientific, archeological and educational information may be recovered and preserved in addition to the physical recovery of objects

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WAL-MART STILL AT IT!!!! -- Sacred Heart, 12:26:20 04/02/01 Mon

>Walmart---Still at it in Morgantown
>In case you had not heard, Walmart is still trying to get approval to build
>a new superstore on a village site and burial ground in Morgantown. While
>Walmartís actions have been the subject of numerous protests they are
>continuing with their plans to build. Last month, we believed that this
>desecration had been stopped and that there was less likelihood that they
>would be successful in acquiring the land and getting permission to gain
>access to the highway. Walmart has now countered with a PR campaign and the
>offer to somehow set aside the "most sensitive areas". It appears likely
>that the Department of Highways will give them their way and allow the road
>access and the WVU Foundation (which owns the land and is salivating over
>the millions they expect from the sale) will sell them the property. The
>only way we have to stop this is to persuade Fred VanKirk from the WV
>Highway Department NOT to allow them the access to the highway and to
>persuade the WVU folks that this is evil business. Calls to the Highway
>Department and to the WVU Foundation are totally appropriate---be polite but
>firm.

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COKE OVEN PARK -- Sacred Heart, 12:22:46 04/02/01 Mon

DUNLAP, Tenn. -- Deep ruts on the side of Fredonia Mountain still
mark the paths traveled by some 1,000 Cherokees en route to the
Oklahoma Territory 162 years ago.

Members of the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association, which
established the Coke Ovens Park here, have recently learned their
property includes a portion of the Trail of Tears, said association
vice president Carson Camp.

Over the years trees have grown up along the series of ruts and small
ridges of the route which follows the old Hill Road up Fredonia
Mountain along the Cumberland Plateau.

"There's about half a mile of visible roadbed that's still intact,"
Mr. Camp said. "It looks much as it would have then."

The edge of the road bed rises more than six feet in some
places. "The wagons would rut those roads so bad and then water would
run down through there," he said, describing how the furrows were
formed.

Last week, Mr. Camp met with a representative of the National Park
Service, who visited the roadbed site and identified it as a part of
the original Indian path. "They were surprised we had this much road
bed intact," he said.

It is unique because many of the paths have been cleared or paved
over through the years, and are hard to identify, he said.

Mr. Camp is working with other historians to pinpoint the exact path
of the trail. Beliefs are, from accounts of the November 1838 diary
entries of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick, who traveled with the group, that
more than 1,000 Cherokee Indians took the Hill Road up the mountain
after camping near the coke ovens site, Mr. Camp said.

"There are very limited accounts on the Trail of Tears," he
said. "They're trying now to get a true account of what went on."

The Cherokee people were forced off their lands in the Southeast, and
moved west to reservations in Oklahoma. Thousands died along the way.

The development comes after Mr. Camp contacted the association about
his suspicions the route passed through the 77-acre Dunlap Coke Ovens
Park.

The park was formed 16 years ago to preserve the ruins of 268 beehive
coke ovens there. The ovens, once used to transform coal into the
hotter, longer and steadier burning coke, were a part of the mining
industry that flourished in the region from 1899 to 1927.

Not only is the park rich in mining history, but also Civil War
history, and now American Indian history as well, Mr. Camp said.

The Indian route passes up the side of Fredonia Mountain in the park,
on through portions of some 518 acres Mr. Camp and his partner
purchased six years ago to prevent it from being harvested for
timber, he said. Plans were to sell off the land to help fund the
park.

Mr. Camp said he now hopes the Trail of Tears certification will help
with grants for the park. "We want to preserve it, but it does put us
in a little bit of a bind," he said.

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COKE OVEN PARK -- Sacred Heart, 12:21:22 04/02/01 Mon

DUNLAP, Tenn. -- Deep ruts on the side of Fredonia Mountain still
mark the paths traveled by some 1,000 Cherokees en route to the
Oklahoma Territory 162 years ago.

Members of the Sequatchie Valley Historical Association, which
established the Coke Ovens Park here, have recently learned their
property includes a portion of the Trail of Tears, said association
vice president Carson Camp.

Over the years trees have grown up along the series of ruts and small
ridges of the route which follows the old Hill Road up Fredonia
Mountain along the Cumberland Plateau.

"There's about half a mile of visible roadbed that's still intact,"
Mr. Camp said. "It looks much as it would have then."

The edge of the road bed rises more than six feet in some
places. "The wagons would rut those roads so bad and then water would
run down through there," he said, describing how the furrows were
formed.

Last week, Mr. Camp met with a representative of the National Park
Service, who visited the roadbed site and identified it as a part of
the original Indian path. "They were surprised we had this much road
bed intact," he said.

It is unique because many of the paths have been cleared or paved
over through the years, and are hard to identify, he said.

Mr. Camp is working with other historians to pinpoint the exact path
of the trail. Beliefs are, from accounts of the November 1838 diary
entries of Rev. Daniel S. Butrick, who traveled with the group, that
more than 1,000 Cherokee Indians took the Hill Road up the mountain
after camping near the coke ovens site, Mr. Camp said.

"There are very limited accounts on the Trail of Tears," he
said. "They're trying now to get a true account of what went on."

The Cherokee people were forced off their lands in the Southeast, and
moved west to reservations in Oklahoma. Thousands died along the way.

The development comes after Mr. Camp contacted the association about
his suspicions the route passed through the 77-acre Dunlap Coke Ovens
Park.

The park was formed 16 years ago to preserve the ruins of 268 beehive
coke ovens there. The ovens, once used to transform coal into the
hotter, longer and steadier burning coke, were a part of the mining
industry that flourished in the region from 1899 to 1927.

Not only is the park rich in mining history, but also Civil War
history, and now American Indian history as well, Mr. Camp said.

The Indian route passes up the side of Fredonia Mountain in the park,
on through portions of some 518 acres Mr. Camp and his partner
purchased six years ago to prevent it from being harvested for
timber, he said. Plans were to sell off the land to help fund the
park.

Mr. Camp said he now hopes the Trail of Tears certification will help
with grants for the park. "We want to preserve it, but it does put us
in a little bit of a bind," he said.

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From;Tom Kunesh -- Sacred Heart, 12:16:37 04/02/01 Mon

> From Tom Kunesh, via the TN Affairs List:
> (Carl "Two Feathers [Short]" forgets his place as a non-enrolled person)
> ------------------------------
> Private meeting on archaeological dig upsets Native Americans
> 2001-03-24 by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff
> An unannounced consultation meeting was held Thursday to work out a
> memorandum of agreement on treatment of the graves found at the
> archaeological dig where East Lamar Alexander Parkway (U.S. 321) is
> being widened in Townsend.
> The private meeting has upset some Native Americans, and they are
> planning a protest Sunday.
> Present for the meeting at the Townsend Visitors Center were a dozen
> people, including Mark Doctor of the Federal Highway Administration
> (FHWA), Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) officials, Laura
> Dean of the National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, James
> Bird, Brett Riggs and other representatives of the Eastern Band of the
> Cherokee, TDOT archaeologist Gerald Kline, Charles "Chuck'' Bentz of the
> University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research (the group
> TDOT hired to do the dig) and Herb Handly of Smoky Mountains Convention
> and Visitors Bureau.
> Carl "Two Feathers'' Whitaker, chief representative of the Native
> American Indian Movement (NAIM), said he is "extremely upset'' his group
> was not notified and included in the talks.
> It had earlier been announced that there will be an April 4 consultation
> meeting in Townsend, but Thursday's meeting was not announced.
> "It was very sneaky for them to do this,'' Whitaker said. He said state
> officials lied by telling him there would be no meeting before April 4.
> "Obviously they didn't want the news media or us to know about this
> meeting,'' Whitaker said.
> He said he is organizing a protest for noon Sunday at the picnic area
> across from the Apple Barn on East Lamar Alexander Parkway in Townsend.
> He said the main focus of the protest will be to criticize FHWA, the
> group that conducts consultation meetings between the governmental
> entities and the recognized tribes, and TDOT.
> Fourth memorandum
> When contacted following the meeting, the FHWA's Dean said the group
> went over the memorandum of agreement (MOA) that must be written to
> specify what will be done with the graves. This was the third memorandum
> that TDOT has written.
> Dean had input into the third draft, and a fourth revised memorandum
> will be going out to the involved parties soon. That will be discussed
> at the April 4 consultation meeting.
> Bentz said the preferred treatment of the graves is total avoidance,
> which would require moving the road and not going over the burial sites
> at all. If that is not possible, the second preference is encapsulating
> the graves and leaving them in place. The third and least preferred
> choice is to move the graves.
> "I would assume that moving graves would require consultation with the
> Eastern Band on a case-by-case basis,'' Bentz said.
> FHWA and TDOT would have to prove that moving graves was the only
> solution, citing reasons such as traffic safety.
> 70 grave sites found
> Thus far 70 graves, 25 of which are cremations, have been discovered.
> Once found, archaeologists fill the graves back in and notify FHWA where
> they are located. The memorandum discussed Thursday defines the way the
> graves will be treated.
> "TDOT is going to put forth as much effort as possible to preserve the
> remains in place,'' Dean said. "Otherwise, the Cherokee will be directly
> involved if that can't happen.''
> "The site is just spectacular,'' said Dean, an archaeologist. "I've
> never had the opportunity to work on sites like that in the U.S. I've
> worked on them in Mexico. They're just a jewel for the community.
> "The whole area of Tuckaleechee Cove has historic sites, as well. If
> this has done nothing but educate the community about the heritage, it's
> served its purpose. The community shouldn't let it drop. They should
> protect that heritage and not just leave it to chance or federal law to
> protect it. Otherwise they'll look up and it will be gone.''
> One area of contention between NAIM and the Eastern Band is that
> Whitaker and NAIM want to hold a seven-day ceremony once the issue of
> the graves is decided -- praying over each single grave and keeping a
> spirit fire lit for the entire week.
> Apparently, the Cherokee would prefer to have members of a religious
> society come in and conduct a ceremony in secret, keeping it totally
> private.

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Stand up for the Ancestors -- Sacred Heart, 12:14:13 04/02/01 Mon

An important meeting is coming up on Tuesday, April 10th, in downtown
Franklin, TN. On that date at 7:00pm at the Franklin City Hall there
will be
a chance for public comment on the proposed Westhaven development to be
located just west of the current city of Franklin.

Part of the proposed Westhaven development encompasses ancient burial
grounds that lie in one of the sections slated for the heaviest
development.
According to my sources, no mention of these burial mounds has been
made in
the previous "informational" meetings held between the developers -
Southern
Land Company - and the citizens of Williamson County. In fact, it has
been
said that of the 80 or so people at the last town meeting, all but three
or
four of those in attendance were employees of the developer.

We need to have a Native American presence at the April 10th meeting to
let
the developer, the City of Franklin, and the general public know that
we
know there are Ancestors buried at the site, and that we do not want
their
remains disturbed. Since we aren't sure if Southern Land Company knows
of
the burial sites, we should go in with the spirit of cooperation &
enlightenment, but with a resolve that shows we will protect the
Ancestors.
If they demonstrate a willingness to build their community without
disturbing the burials, then we can have an amicable relationship; but
if
they prove to be as short-sighted as past opponents (such as the City of

Brentwood, TDOT, and Wal-Mart & JDN Associates) then we can show them we
are ready to do battle.

If you live in Franklin/Williamson County, you need to be at this
meeting.
Anyone with an interest in preserving these burial sites is encouraged
to
attend, no matter where you are from. Please make every effort to
attend.

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WARREN COUNTY,KY -- Sacred Heart, 12:10:44 04/02/01 Mon

Artifacts, if you please
County still waiting for return of items; a few say they’ll turn in what they have found

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Robyn L. Minor, rminor@bgdailynews.com -- 270-783-3249
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A few people have shown interest in turning over prehistoric Indian artifacts taken from land slated for the expansion of U.S. 231.
But none actually had taken the items to Warren County Attorney Mike Caudill on Wednesday morning.

Caudill said a few people have called to ask where to bring the items and a woman called the Daily News to find out where she could turn in some of the objects, which archeology surveys of the area indicate could be as old as 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

Caudill said people have until noon Monday to bring the items - pottery shards, weapons and tools presumably from the Early Woodlands or Early Archaic periods - to his office in Warren County Justice Center or face prosecution for illegally removing them.

“I am going to wait until then to begin any official investigation,” he said.

As many as 200 artifacts have been taken during intensive excavation of the state-owned property during the past two or three weeks.

“We probably never will really know how much was there,” Caudill said.

He fears that some artifacts also may have been removed from nearby county land slated for park development.

“People have been going over this area for years - looking for Indian artifacts,” said Carroll Moesley of Alvaton, who stopped by the site Tuesday afternoon.

That’s why he really didn’t think much about seeing numerous people excavating, Moesley said.

“They’ve been out here, off and on, since the fall,” he said.

Mike Cullar, an American Indian from Washington who now lives in Bowling Green, said he saw the digging going on a couple of weeks ago.

“I thought it was a professional archeology dig,” he said. “I suspected it might be Indian artifacts they were finding and wanted to stop but didn’t.

“On Sunday, I just felt compelled to stop and see what was going on.”

Cullar said he tried to strike up a conversation with a man who was digging.

“He got a little frightened,” he said. “Now I know why.”

Cullar said it disturbs him that people would just take the items.

Moesley said he thinks the artifacts should be excavated.

“I would rather see people have the things than have them covered with asphalt,” he said.

While the expanded U.S. 231 is scheduled to cross the patch of ground that has been turned shovel-by-shovel, state Transportation Cabinet archeologist Carl Shields said the state would have handled the artifacts’ removal differently.

“We are considering this a late discovery,” Shields said. “We knew there were sites nearby, but we were unaware of this (specific) site.”

If the state had been notified of the discoveries, it would have scientifically excavated the items and displayed them in a museum “for all the public to see,” he said.

“Apparently there were some really good finds made and there were no notes taken, no photographs made,” Shields said. “It’s just a real shame.”

Moesley said he agrees with Caudill, who wants any artifacts on nearby park property to be appropriately excavated and included in a permanent display at the park.

Meanwhile, the state is trying to decide how to handle further excavation of its property.

“We are trying to address all of the concerns raised by (Caudill),” Shields said. “We will put up fencing and take every precaution to protect what remains at the site.”

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WARREN COUNTY,KENTUCKY -- Sacred Heart, 12:07:37 04/02/01 Mon

Illegal excavations reports will be investigated, county says

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By the Daily News Online, dnews@bgdailynews.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Warren County will investigate reports that dozens of people were involved in the illegal excavation of prehistoric Indian artifacts.
“Ignorance of the law is no defense,” Warren County Attorney Mike Caudill said.

But Caudill said he is offering a “forgiveness” period for those people willing to turn in property they have found.

“They need to come in and bring back what they’ve found between now and noon Monday,” Caudill said.

Those people won’t be prosecuted but will be asked to make themselves available to an archeologist so they can show where and at what depth the artifacts were found.

Caudill spoke passionately about the significance of the sites - some of which are on state property near the U.S. 231 expansion project and some of which are on Warren County land.

“These could have been the people who started agriculture practices in the area,” he said.

While some people may fail to see the significance of removing prehistoric artifacts for personal gain, Caudill is serious about stopping it and prosecuting those who don’t turn in the artifacts.

By some reports, as many as 200 people were involved in culling the artifacts.

“I imagine that’s an exaggeration,” he said. “But this was done in daylight, and we will found out who those people were.”

Those found to be digging and moving artifacts can be charged with violating the state’s Antiquity Act. Most violations are a felony, punishable by one to five years in prison and confiscation of any equipment or vehicles used in the illegal.

Because the violations mostly are felonies, Caudill said he has spoken with Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Wilson, “and he is with me on this.”

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WARREN COUNTY KY> DESECRATION -- Sacred Heart, 12:00:07 04/02/01 Mon

Artifacts find puts stop to road work
State wants to know if any more prehistoric material remains at site

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By Robyn L. Minor, rminor@bgdailynews.com -- 270-783-3249
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Nevens of Elizabethtown looks over two fresh holes Tuesday at an Indian artifact site off Upton Road in Warren County. The area is near expansion of U.S. 231 between Scottsville and Bowling Green. Nevens said he heard about the site and wanted to see it. Photo by Joe Imel




Construction on a small portion of U.S. 231 in Warren County has been halted while state archeologists determine if any prehistoric Indian artifacts remain at the site.
For as much as two weeks, people have dug through the patch of dirt near the Allen County line, finding spearheads and bits of tools used in implement- and weapons-making - some apparently 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

They apparently returned to the site Monday night, authorities said.

The problem was that those artifacts were being illegally removed from state property and without the state’s knowledge, two state archeologists said.

“From an archeologist’s viewpoint, it’s a great loss that something like this was so thoroughly picked over,” said Carl Shields, an archeologist for the state Transportation Cabinet. “We were told that as many as 10 cars were parked there, with people working from sun up to sundown (removing artifacts).”

Shields, who called it disturbing that the state wasn’t notified, spent Monday reviewing the site, which he said had been pretty well denigrated.

He found only bits of flint but said – based on what he’s been told about the other findings – the site could have been a camp for either Early Archaic or Early Woodland Indians.

Kentucky Heritage Council archeologist Dave Pollack said that makes the finds 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

The Heritage Council identified the site years ago while doing an archeological survey for the project to expand the road to four lanes, he said.

“It was recorded and evaluated at that time,” he said. “And, at that time, it was determined it was not significant. But, in that finding, we always leave room to re-evaluate the site.”

From information he has been able to glean about what was found at the site, it likely should have been labeled a significant site, Pollack said.

Whether it still is remains to be seen, Shields said.

“Right now, what we have to do is a salvage operation,” he said.

If there is anything left, it will be excavated, cataloged and curated by one of the state’s regional museums, Shields said.

Once that is done, the site can be cleared for construction again.

Pollack said it’s a rarity that a site

would be “so significant that we would tell the Transportation Cabinet (to) ‘move your road.’”

While the state may not have considered the site significant at the time, Warren County Attorney Mike Caudill said county land in the same vicinity contains what he and retired Western Kentucky University archeology professor Jack Schock consider significant.

Schock in 1997 evaluated the property and found pottery shards from Early Woodland Indians and mounds likely used for religious purposes.

Schock recommended that the county properly excavate a portion of the property, which is likely to contain other artifacts.

Caudill said he plans to ask Warren County Fiscal Court to agree to fund the excavation and then include information about what was found in a permanent display.

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WARREN COUNTY KY> DESECRATION -- Sacred Heart, 11:58:05 04/02/01 Mon

Artifacts find puts stop to road work
State wants to know if any more prehistoric material remains at site

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Robyn L. Minor, rminor@bgdailynews.com -- 270-783-3249
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chris Nevens of Elizabethtown looks over two fresh holes Tuesday at an Indian artifact site off Upton Road in Warren County. The area is near expansion of U.S. 231 between Scottsville and Bowling Green. Nevens said he heard about the site and wanted to see it. Photo by Joe Imel




Construction on a small portion of U.S. 231 in Warren County has been halted while state archeologists determine if any prehistoric Indian artifacts remain at the site.
For as much as two weeks, people have dug through the patch of dirt near the Allen County line, finding spearheads and bits of tools used in implement- and weapons-making - some apparently 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

They apparently returned to the site Monday night, authorities said.

The problem was that those artifacts were being illegally removed from state property and without the state’s knowledge, two state archeologists said.

“From an archeologist’s viewpoint, it’s a great loss that something like this was so thoroughly picked over,” said Carl Shields, an archeologist for the state Transportation Cabinet. “We were told that as many as 10 cars were parked there, with people working from sun up to sundown (removing artifacts).”

Shields, who called it disturbing that the state wasn’t notified, spent Monday reviewing the site, which he said had been pretty well denigrated.

He found only bits of flint but said – based on what he’s been told about the other findings – the site could have been a camp for either Early Archaic or Early Woodland Indians.

Kentucky Heritage Council archeologist Dave Pollack said that makes the finds 8,000 to 9,000 years old.

The Heritage Council identified the site years ago while doing an archeological survey for the project to expand the road to four lanes, he said.

“It was recorded and evaluated at that time,” he said. “And, at that time, it was determined it was not significant. But, in that finding, we always leave room to re-evaluate the site.”

From information he has been able to glean about what was found at the site, it likely should have been labeled a significant site, Pollack said.

Whether it still is remains to be seen, Shields said.

“Right now, what we have to do is a salvage operation,” he said.

If there is anything left, it will be excavated, cataloged and curated by one of the state’s regional museums, Shields said.

Once that is done, the site can be cleared for construction again.

Pollack said it’s a rarity that a site

would be “so significant that we would tell the Transportation Cabinet (to) ‘move your road.’”

While the state may not have considered the site significant at the time, Warren County Attorney Mike Caudill said county land in the same vicinity contains what he and retired Western Kentucky University archeology professor Jack Schock consider significant.

Schock in 1997 evaluated the property and found pottery shards from Early Woodland Indians and mounds likely used for religious purposes.

Schock recommended that the county properly excavate a portion of the property, which is likely to contain other artifacts.

Caudill said he plans to ask Warren County Fiscal Court to agree to fund the excavation and then include information about what was found in a permanent display.

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ODD ARTIFACTS FOUND -- Sacred Heart, 11:51:16 04/02/01 Mon

Dig uncovers odd artifacts
> APRIL 2, 2001
>
> Archeaologists have uncovered artifacts at a
> 1,000-year-old site in Tempe, Arizona, they can't seem
> to figure out.
>
> The artifacts are called guanacos because Frank
> Cushing, a turn of the century
> anthropologist/archaeologist, thought
> they depicedt the South American llama when he found
> them. Archaeologists today think they migh represent a
> dog or
> a deer.
>
> So far, the archaeologists at the site have uncovered
> 21 guanacos.
>
> Get the Hairy Shirt's Letter:
> Tempe dig finds odd dog figurines (The Arizona
> Republic 4/2)
> You may have to register to view Arizona Republic
> stories. If you do not want to sign up, use the
> username
> IndianzCom and password indianz.com (all in lowercase,
> include the ".") to view the site.
>
> Copyright © Indianz.Com 2000-2001.

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