Being from Utah, I follow Utah news headlines, probably more so than my local Kansas news. I also have a diligent mother that cuts out newspaper stories that might interest me, including quirky Mormon anecdotal news, paleontology headlines, and so on and so forth. Last week, I received a letter from Mom, filled with newspaper clippings regarding the recent Indian artifact sting that occurred in the Four Corners region. Now I know that there tends to be bad blood between the paleontologists and the archaeologists (mostly for being misidentified as the other, you know what I mean), but this situation is awful, and paleontologists should be following along, because we are not immune. For those of you unfamiliar with this story, allow me to fill you in....
The BLM and FBI, concerned with looting in San Juan County, worked with a major dealer of archaeological artifacts, and the dealer agreed to be a part of an undercover operation, dubbed Cerberus Action (named after
Cerberus). For months, the dealer, bought artifacts from the Four Corners area while wearing a recording device. Overall, the dealer purchased 256 relics, including ceramic figures, an atlatl, jewelry, blankets, knives, bowls, jars, and weaponry, for $335,685, though scientists value the relics as priceless. The artifacts were all collected on public lands (which is illegal), though the collectors claim that they are from private land, which is legal with permission of the landowner.
After 2 years, the BLM and FBI had enough evidence to indict 24 suspects in the operation, including prominent Blanding residents. Though some of them are also involved with methamphetamine operations, the list includes a doctor (James Redd) and his wife Jeanne; Harold Lyman, who was recently inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame and is a friendly face at the Blanding Visitor Center; and others which range in age from 30-80. Some are of the Latter-Day Saint faith, some have previous drug possession charges. But the moral is that many of these people are from long-standing families that go back at least 100 years in the San Juan County area. For many of them, collecting arrowheads and other relics is a family tradition, not seen in the community as a felony crime. Overall, 115 felony counts and many misdemeanors were charged in this group for violation of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA), theft of government property, theft of Indian Tribal property, and violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
But wait, there's more scandal to the story. Dr. James Redd, 60, and his wife Jeanne, have been prosecuted before for theft of artifacts, including a charge of desecrating a corpse after a sheriff's deputy caught the Redds and their children digging at an Indian burial site in 1996. Jeanne pleaded no contest, and James was acquitted, after a long court battle.
After this recent charge, Dr. Redd's body was found on his property, an apparent suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning while sitting in his locked car.
Afterwards, a second defendent, Steven Shrader, 56, also committed suicide Thursday night behind an elementary school in Illinois. He shot himself twice in the chest.
Most defendents so far have plead not guilty to the charges.
Blanding residents have become outraged with the BLM and FBI over the sting operation, saying that these people were not criminals, they were friendly, prominent members of the community. Harold Lyman, 78, is claimed to be one of the nicest, friendliest people in Blanding. The community is claiming "Gestapo"-like tactics were taken by the feds, and that it was unnecessary. The FBI, however, is aware that almost every resident of Blanding owns a gun, and even one defendant stated "
that if caught with artifacts he would have a shoot-out with authorities rather than go to jail." This was a dangerous situation, with lots of money being thrown around, and it was necessary for the feds to show some force.
So why show so much concern over artifact theft? Many Blanding residents have stated that the authorities should spend more time cracking down on gangsters and drug dealers and such, not ransacking people's houses for Indian artifacts. But regardless, these collectors have inflicted so much damage to the Puebloan record in southern Utah. They have essentially erased the arifacts' real value when they were removed from the ground. The relics are now nothing more than "pretty" trophies, and that is all.
Not to mention they are destroying something which is sacred to someone else. Raiding graves? Deplorable. How would they feel if someone came along and started digging up ol' Great Great Grandpa's grave for pocketwatches and shoes? How would you feel if your ancestor's pioneer treasures were sold to the highest bidder without any concern for your feelings or right to them? I sympathize with the Indian tribes who have a right to real outrage, not the Blanding residents who are upset with the government for "embarassing" their friends and family members with criminal charges, despite the fact that their friends and family members might actually be guilty of the crimes. And I am outraged because these people have stolen priceless items that belong to you and me and every citizen of the USA. Shouldn't you be upset, too? The government isn't the bad guy here....
Now, back to paleontology. Why should you care about all of this? Because fossils get looted, too. They are stolen and sold at gem and mineral shows, eBay, local rock shops, auctions, and under-the-table. Bones are collected by "yocal" families and used as doorstops. And when they are removed, invaluable stratigraphic, locality, and paleoecological information is lost, rendering the fossil useless to science. This is happening just as much as archaeological looting, but because of the passage of the Paleontological Resources Protection Act (PRPA), theft of vertebrate fossils and illegal collection of invertebrates can now get an equal punishment to the ARPA. Before, paleontology had minor claims in the Antiquities Act of 1906, but nothing formidable could be done as far as real prosecution. Though some larger scale cases met an equal prosecution, most paleo thefts were met with a minor fine and a slap on the wrist, because that was all prosecutors could manage under the current laws. The PRPA is a breakthrough in protecting valuable paleontological resources. Many scientists are claiming that the PRPA is only an inconvenience to them, and that it does no good. But, when following the rules, PRPA does not hinder any kind of scientific research. Maybe those who are complaining should reevaluate how they are doing things, and ask themselves if some of the work they are doing is just as destructive as looting. Gee, maybe PRPA is protecting us from ourselves! I'm kind of rambling at this point, so I will move on...
We all must be gung-ho to protect fossils on vertebrate lands. I am constantly pushing agencies to establish a paleontological site stewardship program, where volunteers monitor paleo sites regularly for signs of vandalism and theft. I will discuss this more in a later blog post, but for now I will leave you with this very long post. Please share your thoughts on this case, and how we can get more people in the paleontology community to take an active stance on protecting fossils.
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