Indian cave looter hit with $2.5 million penalty (that's a lot of wampum)

AP ^

[Dallas]

RENO, Nevada -

A man who federal officials say spoiled a major archaeological find when he looted ancient American Indian remains from a Nevada cave in the 1980s has been fined $2.5 million in civil penalties.

Jack Lee Harelson destroyed what could have been one of the most important archaeological cave sites in the Great Basin, Bureau of Land Management (news - web sites) officials said.

Before Elephant Mountain Cave was looted over several years in the early 1980s, it contained a 10,000-year record of human life in northern Nevada, including artifacts from the Paiute tribe. The site is in the Black Rock Desert, 140 miles (225 kilometers) north of Reno.

"The desecration and loss of this site to all Americans is staggering," said Bob Abbey, Nevada state director of the BLM. "While we are pleased the judge ruled completely in BLM's favor, money can't bring back what was lost."

Harelson, of Grants Pass, Oregon, maintained his innocence and laughed when asked whether he would pay the fine.

"I'm on Social Security (news - web sites) and crippled, yeah, right," he said. "The federal government knew that I had nothing going in. They needed to slap someone ... You deal with the government and there are lies and that's what you have to deal with."

Harelson acknowledged digging a "test hole" and removing some artifacts, but argued he did so only to interest Nevada archaeologists in the site.

Harelson and his wife discovered two large baskets, one with the body of a boy and the other with the body of a girl, court records show. They removed the bodies, baskets and other artifacts, and buried the bodies in their backyard.

More than 2,000 artifacts were later recovered, including 10,000-year-old sandals that possibly were the oldest footwear found on earth, said Pat Barker, a state archaeologist for BLM.

William Hammett, an Interior Department administrative law judge, handed down the civil penalty, the fourth largest ever assessed for archaeological theft. It was imposed Dec. 6 but not announced until late Thursday by the BLM.

[yooper]

"Harelson, of Grants Pass, Oregon, maintained his innocence and laughed when asked whether he would pay the fine."

I'm reminded of the scene in Austin Powers where government leaders broke out laughing at Dr. Evil's demand for one billion dollars in ransom. "Why don't you just ask for a bajillion dollars?!"

[JoeFromCA]

Where do I start? Because of this selfish person's greed (I want this for myself), a big part of history is lost to other Americans. Also, he apparently stole whatever he took, because it was on BLM land. (Oh, yeah, I forgot, it's government land so it belonged to him). I hope he receives a prison sentence; we'll see if he's laughing then.

[itzmygun]

Tell me how knowing what kind of sandals some Indian wore 10,000 years ago helps us today? This is all emotional, nostalgic drivel. Besides, it doesn't sound like the "scientists" had much interest in the site until after the fact. Boo-frickin-hoo.

[pepsionice]

Lets face it...the digging mafia (self-declared experts who have graduated from some university and have various federal grants to dig) have taken control of all 'digs'. You cannot just dig on your own...you have to have an expert dig for you...kinda like the New Jersey unions. And like Tony Soprono....they want their cut on all digs. This is probably one of the biggest jokes in the acedemic circle. The power of the Indian mafia is apparent, they helped create the stupid law that all corpses over 400 years old are Indian and thereby protected...of course, they really don't want to hear about any potential non-Indian findings on the east coast...which a lot of people are now beginning to think Spanish travlers several thousand years ago made it to the coast.

Bottom line...if you are going to dig...just dig and shut up...and leave the site as quickly as possible. Don't let the mafia intrude on your dig.

[Blunderfromdownunder]

Nice conspiracy dude because archaeology is sooooo profitable - Temporary federal archy jobs for seven months a year at $7-9 an hour...God knows why those other mafioso would mess around with the chump change you can make running whores, drugs and guns...
But seriously, archaeological sites are like any other finite resource; they should be protected where they can and explored/exploited carefully where they cant (ie if they are in the way of a highway development or gas pipeline). Each archaeological site is absolutely unique and blowing through them with the aim of making a few $$ selling projectile points on ebay or lining your fireplace with grinding stones is the act of a cretin - on par with torching a library or if you prefer a more topical case study, the Taliban blowing up the Bamiyan buddhas.
But fairs fair, if you want to do it on your own property or on private property with the owners permission, no oone is gonna stop you...But you dont mess with archaeological sites on public land which have been protected for almost 100 years (Antiquities Act 1906).