CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT CRM VOLUME 25 NO. 2 2002 Looting A Global Crisis U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR National Park Service Cultural Resources PUBLISHED BY THE CRM magazine's 25th anniversary year NATIONAL PARK SERVICE VOLUME 25 NO. 2 2002 Information for parks, Federal agencies, Contents ISSN 1068-4999 Indian tribes, States, local governments, and the private sector that promotes and maintains high standards for pre­ Looting—A Global Crisis serving and managing cultural resources To CRM readers 3 Tribal Perspectives in the War DIRECTOR Ron Greenberg Against Looters 29 Fran P Mainella Julia G. Longenecker and Looting 4 Jeff Van Pelt ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR CULTURAL RESOURCE STEWARDSHIP Robert D. Hicks AND PARTNERSHIPS Bureau of Indian Affairs Training on Katherine H. Stevenson Stealing History 7 Archeological Resource Crime 32 MANAGING EDITOR Neil Brodie, Jenny Doole, and Garry J. Cantley John Robbins Peter Watson Management of Historic Ships and ASSOCIATE EDITOR TheARPA-way 11 Aircraft Sites 34 Janice C. McCoy Phil Young Wendy Coble GUEST EDITOR Robert D. Hicks Observations of ARPA Warriors— Using Local Groups to Prevent ADVISORS Twenty Years on the March 13 Looting—An Example from David Andrews Sherry Hutt Western Sweden 37 Editor, NPS Leif Haggstrom Joan Bacharach Curator, NPS Archeological Law Enforcement Randall J. Biallas Training 15 Securing Cemetery Plot Gates 39 Historical Architect, NPS Martin E. McAllister Michael Trinkley John A. Burns Architect, NPS Harry A Butowsky Returning Stolen Cultural Property— Inadvertent Vandalism—The Hidden Historian, NPS Tomb of Wang Chuzi Marble Challenge for Heritage Resource Pratt Cassiry Executive Director, Wall Relief 17 Management 42 National Allrance of Preservation Commissions Jane A. Levine Alan P. Sullivan III, Muriel Crespi Cultural Anthropologist, NPS Patrick M. Uphus, Mary Cullen An Overview of Anti-looting Efforts Christopher I. Roos, and Director, Historical Services Branch Parks Canada in Florida 19 Philip B. Mink II Roger E. Kelly Gerard T York and Jim Miller Archeotogist, NPS Safeguarding an Archeological Legacy— Antoinette J. Lee Historian, NPS "Rescuing" Artifacts—A Case Study Preventing Site Looting in Disinformation 23 on Private Land 46 ASSISTANT David C. Crass, Dan Parrish, and Susan L. Henry Renaud Denise M. Mayo Christine Van Voorhies The Long-Term Looting of Caddo An electronic version of this Indian Sites on Federal Property in issue of CRM can be accessed Northeastern Texas 26 through the CRM homepage at Robert Cast and <http://www.cr.nps.gov/crm>. Timothy K. Perttula Cover, top left, manual used in training archeologists and law enforcement offcers, see article p. 15; Design and Imaging bottom left, items confiscated following search warrants executed at the homes of two men subse­ McCoy Publishing Services quently convicted of violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act at Petersburg National [email protected] Battlefield, VA, NPS photo; right, mock looting of a Native American ceramic pot, photo by Robert D. Hicks. CRM is produced under a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service and the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers. Views and conclusions in CRM are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the opinions or policies of the U.S. Government. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Government. Send articles and correspondence to the Editor, CRM, National Park Service, 1849 C Street NW-350NC, Washington, DC 20240 (U.S. Postal Service) or 800 North Capitol Street NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20002 (commer­ cial delivery); telephone (202) 343-3411, facsimile (202) 343-5260; e-mail <[email protected]>. 2 CRM No. 2—2002 To CRM readers — recently stepped down as CRM editor, following a very long and enjoyable association with this magazine. Now in its 25th year of publication, CRM enjoys strong support within the National Park Service and the Federal Government, and beyond. As CRM reaches the quarter-century mark, I hope that CRM will become even more relevant to culturaIl resource managers and preservationists, and that its database will grow and become acces­ sible to many more users who are yet to discover the wealth of information it contains. For many years, the success of CRM was credited to my efforts. To be sure, I devoted a great deal of time and energy to this activity. But the credit really goes to the hundreds of authors and other contributors who have made CRM an important part of the literature available to educators, students, researchers, practitioners, and you, the readers, all of whom have confirmed the need for the information that we have published over the years. I am certain, too, that many of the articles that we received would not have been written, much less published and read, were it not for the outlet provided by CRM. In the first issue of CRM Bulletin, as the magazine was called when he created it in 1978, former National Park Service Associate Director Ross Holland said that he hoped that the Bulletin would continue. Well, it has continued for almost 25 years, and I will watch with interest to see how the magazine evolves in the coming years. I wish to thank the many people who encouraged me and helped me develop CRM from a quarterly bulletin — first edited by Doug Caldwell and then by Mary Maruca — for park cultural resource managers, into a magazine that now additionally serves our many preservation colleagues in this country, and in Canada and many other foreign nations. I am particularly grateful to NPS Cultural Resources program leaders Jerry Rogers, Rowland Bowers, and Kate Stevenson for allow­ ing me to devote the time necessary to produce the magazine. My thanks also to Karlota (Kari) Koester who served as my assistant editor for many years; to NPS historian Harry Butowsky who was an enormous help in many ways; to NPS printing specialist Jerry Buckbinder who facilitated the printing process; to Jan McCoy of McCoy Publishing Services, who takes the myriad articles and illustrations we receive and turns them into well-organized, attractive magazines; to NPS archeologist Terry Childs for supporting the CRM database and ensuring that it is accessible to the public; and to NPS secretary Denise Mayo for maintaining the CRM mailing list and responding to numerous requests for copies and other inquiries related to the magazine. Leaving the position of editor of CRM ends my 29-year "official" association with the cul­ tural resources programs of the National Park Service. However, I will always be interested in the work of cultural resource managers and preservationists. I will continue to follow your progress through articles in future issues of CRM, and I truly hope that more and more of you will con­ tribute news and feature articles about your cultural resources activities. — Ron Greenberg Ronald M. Greenberg retired as Assistant Director, Cultural Resources Stewardship and Partnerships, in 1999 and as CRM editor in January 2002. In the next few months, the National Park Service will confirm an editorial direction for CRM, building on CRM's strong legacy and seeking to best serve our readers and the heritage in their care. To participate in these decisions, please send me your insights and comments on CRM's past, present, and future. Messages are welcome via e-mail, <[email protected]>, or facsimile, (202) 343-5260. — John Robbins CRM No. 2—2002 3 Robert D. Hicks information furnished by their context in the ground. Context refers to the relationships between buried artifacts and their temporal and spatial location. Artifacts shorn of context have Looting forever lost their ability to furnish history. Shorn of history, they become commodities for pur­ ooting connotes theft, vandalism, chase or trade, to enhance private collections or trespass, possibly burglary, larceny, those of museums with few ethical scruples. robbery, and even murder. Looting The articles in this issue fit six interrelated is crime. categories. First, an overview: "Stealing History" LThis issue of CRM presents articles con­ is an excerpt of a larger report produced by the cerning the theft of the past, offering perspectives Illicit Antiquities Research Centre of the on the extent of looting worldwide and legal MacDonald Institute of Archaeology, Cambridge, responses to mitigating the problem. Looting of United Kingdom. The essay provides a timely the past through the destruction of historic sites overview of a global crisis, manifestations of and the illicit removal, trafficking, and sale of which are evident throughout this issue of CRM. artifacts is a global dilemma with many facets, Second, retrospective views are offered by contradictions, and complexities, not all of which now-legendary pioneers of Federal initiatives to can be addressed here. combat looting. Judge Sherry Hutt, retired inves­ Note the use of the term "historic" as tigator Phil Young, and archeologist Martin opposed to "archeological." Some commentators McAllister have done much to define our inves­ note that looting means the destruction of his­ tigative protocols and to heighten our current tory. History is narrative; looting obliterates our public awareness of looting and, perhaps most ability to narrate history. Looting is not restricted importantly, have contributed substantially to to buried artifacts unearthed by "tomb robbers"; our current legal posture to combat looting. The 2 the plundered past' includes centuries-old manu­ Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) scripts stolen from archives, tombstones of ante­ has become the most vital legal weapon against bellum Virginians removed and sold as lawn looters in the United States and, despite some ornaments, or feathers of endangered eagles setbacks in Federal courts, ARPA has proven affixed to religious objects sacred to New Mexico immensely successful when enforced aggressively. Native Americans, stolen for sale. As McAllister observed recently, ARPA just Most of the articles included in this issue passed its 20th anniversary, an occasion for law address the protection of archeological resources.