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| Father, son plead to illegal artifact hunting |
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| 2009 incident near Cooper's Ferry site on Salmon River |
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By ICFP editor - David Rauzi
Arrowhead hunting on federal lands is not a hobby; it's a crime as an Orofino father and son found out.
A sentencing date is pending for Eddie Leroy Anderson, 67, and Eddie Joseph Anderson, Jr., 33, who both pled guilty Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court of Idaho to violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) in an incident on Bureau of Land Management property in Idaho County last year.
Detected incidents in the region are normally small, maybe one a year, but the region has seen a small increase in discovered illegal excavations this past two years, said David Sisson, archaeologist for the BLM office in Cottonwood.
At the plea hearing, the pair admitted that on April 7, 2009, they went to the Salmon River Canyon, near the mouth of Graves Creek. This is in proximity to the Cooper's Ferry site where archaeologists have been conducting excavations both this and last summer.
The Andersons went there looking for "chips" or arrowheads, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. The younger Anderson, with his father's tools and with his knowledge, dug several holes, sifted soil, and discovered "chips" or arrowheads.
The federal charge is a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a maximum prison sentence of one year, supervised release of up to one year, and a fine of up to $10,000.
"Last year we had four different sites that people had dug into," Sisson said, and two more illegal digs were found this year. Economics could be driving some people to hunt artifacts to sell, he said, or it could just be coincidental.
Artifact hunters are of two types, according to Sisson.
The more determined excavators bring shovels and sifters, and sometimes they illegally sell the artifacts they find. Others are surface collectors who look along the ground for artifacts, hobbyists, planning it as just another family activity.
"A lot of people do it," Sisson said of surface collecting, "and some people honestly don't know it's illegal." When he encounters folks on public lands scanning the ground for artifacts, he lets them know about the law and then parts ways.
"A lot of people just don't understand," he continued, "and I'd rather help and educate people than go the law enforcement route."
Public education is important -- such as tours of the Cooper's Ferry site and blogs on their work in progress -- in showing people how and why archaeologists work, according to Sisson, specifically on why context is so important. Artifacts found in conjunction with other items, such as mussel shells and bones, provide a better and more thorough picture of past activities at the site.
"But when those items are dug up, we lose the context of what they were associated with," he said.
ARPA prohibits the unauthorized excavation and removal of archaeological resources on federal lands as well as the unlawful sale, purchase or exchange of such resources. Artifact protection extends to not only American Indian artifacts but those of historic townsites.
"A lot of people think it just includes Indian artifacts," said Stephanie Snook, BLM public affairs officer, but it can also include the bottles, cans and other items scrounged from old rubbish heaps. Once the item is taken from its location, putting together that historic perspective is diminished or lost.
"Unless we know where it came from," she said, "we don't have that piece of the puzzle anymore."
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