ARCHAEOLOGY SOUTHWEST CONTINUE ON TO THE NEXT PAGE FOR YOUR magazineFREE PDF (formerly the Center for Desert Archaeology) is a private 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization that explores and protects the places of our past across the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest. We have developed an integrated, conservation- based approach known as Preservation Archaeology. Although Preservation Archaeology begins with the active protection of archaeological sites, it doesn’t end there. We utilize holistic, low-impact investigation methods in order to pursue big-picture questions about what life was like long ago. As a part of our mission to help foster advocacy and appreciation for the special places of our past, we share our discoveries with the public. This free back issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine is one of many ways we connect people with the Southwest’s rich past. Enjoy! Not yet a member? Join today! Membership to Archaeology Southwest includes: » A Subscription to our esteemed, quarterly Archaeology Southwest Magazine » Updates from This Month at Archaeology Southwest, our monthly e-newsletter » 25% off purchases of in-print, in-stock publications through our bookstore » Discounted registration fees for Hands-On Archaeology classes and workshops » Free pdf downloads of Archaeology Southwest Magazine, including our current and most recent issues » Access to our on-site research library » Invitations to our annual members’ meeting, as well as other special events and lectures Join us at archaeologysouthwest.org/how-to-help In the meantime, stay informed at our regularly updated Facebook page! 300 N Ash Alley, Tucson AZ, 85701 • (520) 882-6946 • [email protected] • www.archaeologysouthwest.org Archaeolog-y 50uthwest Volume 15, Number) Center for Desert Archaeolog~ 5ummer2001 Threats to the Fast V011;am H Doelle) Center for Desert Archaeolog!J E..5 T RUCTION AND vandalism are D not pleasant topics for archaeolo­ gists. Unfortunately, the need to discuss them is great. The scale and reasons for destructive acts are variable. For example, in March 2001, the Taliban purposefully destroyed two magnificent statues of Buddha in Afghanistan. Despite in­ ternational protests, these 1,SOO-year-old monuments - which were carved out of rock and stood over 100 feet high - were intentionally destroyed. Press reports in March of this year quoted a local resident: "I could see the Taliban soldiers firing anti­ aircraft weapons at the two statues." That half a year later u.s. Special Forces would be on the ground in Mghanistan, the targets of the same weapons used against the ancient Buddhas, would have been in­ conceivable last March. The destruction of these statues demarcates one extreme in a continuum that runs from "archaeological terrorism" to "naivete" as reasons that destruction occurs. Our responses must be conditioned by the knowledge of where the perpetrators fall along that continuum. Responses to vandalism can be diverse. Detection is necessary if punishment or Fourmile Ruin, the lalgest fourteenth-century site in the Show Low area, has been remediation is to follow. Ultimately, edu­ systematically looted for many decades. The architecture and general site layout are still cation is the key tool for combating this somewhat intact and are visible in the foreground (see also page 6). problem. The articles in this issue cover multiple fronts. The importance of education programs areas, new laws may be required. Momentum continues for individuals and families - so that they can become the to build on all of these fronts. ultimate sources of prevention - cannot be overem­ As we discuss the Southwest, we cannot forget that the phasized. Informed individuals are working each day as scale of our thinking must be global, because the market site stewards in Arizona's state-wide program, and other that drives much vandal- Archaeolo!I!J 50uthwest southwestern states have initiated programs. Training of ism has become world­ IS a Quarterl!) law enforcement personnel is also needed and, in some wide. Fubllcation ot the Center tor Desert Archaeolog!) , ; ,-. - . - .-.-.-, - . ~ 5aving the Mimbres the obj ects that bring large Chris Turnbow; Museum ofNew Mexico amounts on A lbuq u erque and Laborator:!f ofAnthropolog!/ the market. Plundered E.Sr ITE. T HE. passage of antiquities laws and an in­ obj ects are D creased focus on public education, federal and state quickly passed archaeologists report that the looting of New Mexico's along directly archaeological sites is on the rise. The worst cases involve to private col­ commercial looters, who sell their finds on the market. lectors or sent The Mimbres culture area in southwestern New Examples from northwestern New Mexico include the to dealers who Mexico. bulldozing of proto-Zuni pueblos near Grants, the loss of act as middle­ intact cultural deposits in dry caves near Farmington, and men. In many cases, these items are illegally acquired but the sawing out of rock art panels in the Dinetah (see below). are represented to buyers as having been legally obtained from private lands. The illicit antiquities market has also moved onto the Internet, where everything fi-om potsherds to high-end artifacts is sold through online auctions and catalogues. This shift to e-trading has had the disastrous effect of increasing the rate of site destruction worldwide. Mimbres Archaeology in Peril Nowhere in New Mexico has cornmerciallooting been more devastating than on Classic Mimbres pueblo sites in the southwestem portion of the state. The Classic Mimbres culture, dating between A.D. 1000 and 1150, is considered unique among pre-contact North American cultures because of its figurative paintings executed on the insides of bowls . These vessels, most of which have been removed from burials located under the floors of dwellings, depict the customs, lifeways, and worldview of a people who left no written records. The desire of private collectors to own these exceptional painted bowls has led looters to excavate Mimbres habitation sites for almost 100 years. In the late 1800s, well-intentioned citizens were digging Mimbres archaeological sites to fill their curio cabinets and satisfy the demands of East Coast collectors and museums. But through time, some hobbyists turned into full-fledged commercial looters. By the 1960s, nearly all Mimbres pueblos had been damaged by looters, and some sites had Navajo Ye'i. Top: photograph taken in 1974; bottom:photograph been almost completely destroyed. By the end of the decade, taken in 1999. (Photographs courtesy ofJames Copeland.) commercial looting became even more devastating. Mechanical equipment was used to strip off the overlying Commercial looting is not difficult to understand. rubble to expose floors and burial pits, and bulldozers Today, collectors fi-om around the world are willing to pay obliterated entire Mimbres sites. exorbitant amounts for museum-quality antiquities. Given Although the Antiquities Act of 1906 and, much later, the astonishing prices fetched by some rare specimens, the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 private collectors see their investments as world-class art provided some measure of deterrence to looting cultural and may not know or care that they were looted or that resources on federal and tribal lands, most of the large historic value and knowledge were lost in the process. Mimbres pueblos were located on private property, which Encouraged by ever-increasing prices for antiquities, had no similar protection. By 1989, looting was so severe commercial looters raid archaeological sites, searching for Fage 2 A rc h aeo l og~ 5 0uthwest Volum e 15, Num ber :7 in the Mimbres area intact floors, hearths, that the New Mexico and cultural materials legislature passed the in search of burials so-called "Burial under the floors. Bill" (Section 18-6- When found, the 11.2 NMSA 1978 of graves were robbed of the Cultural Proper­ their bowls and other ties Act). This law funerary objects, and made it illegal to the bones of the knowingly and in­ Mimbres dead were tentionally excavate cast aside on spoils an unmarked human piles. burial on private and Fortunately, a hiker state lands without a happened upon one of permit from the His­ the sites on January toric Preservation Above: An aerial view ofone ofthe lalgest Mimbres sites, Old Town Village, shows 21,2000. Even at a Division. extensive cratering by looters. Deep trenches at upper left and lower right are bulldozer great distance, he cuts. Below: The fifty-room village known as Rock House was plundered by heavy However, in the could see the freshly equipment in the 1970s. (Photographs courtesy ofSteven A. LeBlanc.) months leading up to <f) r--------------------------------, dug potholes that the implementation '§ pockmarked the Dia­ of the "Burial Bill," ~ mond Creek site. Re­ looters raced into ac- &. cognizing the unsci­ tion to beat the dead­ entific nature of the line. Over 50 sites digging and the loss were dug on private of important cultural land near Reserve, information, the hi­ and artifacts from ker quickly reported these sites were sold the site damage to the to overseas buyers. In Forest Service. the Mimbres Valley, The Gila Na­ a property owner tional Forest law divided a previously enforcement officers unrecorded Mimbres and archaeologists pueblo into three parcels and sold them to looters. Each of took the case seriously. In a systematic and determined the new owners, intent on personal gain, bulldozed his fashion, the officers investigated the crime scenes at the portion of the site to extract marketable artifacts. Diamond Creek site and the nearby East Fork site, which also had been excavated by the looters. Evidence was Taking Action against Looters: A Case in Point carefully collected for later criminal prosecution. As a last During the fall and winter of 1999-2000, looters be­ step, the officers set seismic sensors along a path that the gan to pillage Classic Mimbres pueblo sites in isolated looters used to drive into the area.