Greed even in tribes -- BURIAL GROUND DESECRATIONS,ETC.

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Date Posted: 09:19:23 04/09/01 Mon
Author: Advocate Investigator
Subject: Greed even in tribes

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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