2nd Quarter Research Project

                Laws are in place to allow people to keep their privacy and so that their personal belongings are respected as theirs. Native Americans have felt that laws need to be set as boundaries to say what objects are allowed to be displayed or sold in museums and what objects must remain on their burial grounds, undisturbed. Certain laws have been established and I believe that this is for the good because person belongings and family heirlooms are respected, and it keeps illegal activities from occurring.

                Certain laws that are enforced are in place to help collectors of Native American artifacts know what they may or may not do. These collectors collect Native American artifacts to be sold on the internet or to be displayed in museums. However, some collectors abuse their job as a collector. Some collectors will go and dig up coffins from Native American burial grounds and sell the items found there. Native Americans feel offended by this action because it is their family heirlooms and it is disrespectful to the owner and the family to dig up items that belonged to the deceased. So, laws were placed by museums and websites, such as Ebay, to help maintain legality and fairness in collecting.

                From the Office of the United States Attorneys, the law states that archaeological crime includes vandalism and theft from archaeological sites and trafficking. These archaeological and Native American sites that are protected are prehistoric sites, such as rock shelters, caves, rock art, rock alignments, earthen mounds, earthen middens, mound complexes, ceremonial centers, shell mounds, middens, refuse pits, burial pits, graves, and cemeteries. Burial sites are also protected by the law. All of these illegal excavations of Native American artifacts fall under a category called “pot hunting.” According to PBS, the repercussions of pot hunting include fines up to thousands of dollars, time in jail, and the items being seized without recompensation. It is not worth doing something unethical if a person will get punished severely and not get to keep the artifact.

                Not only does the US government have laws against illegal collecting. Also, purchase of an illegal item will end in recompensation, even if the customer and new owner of the item did not know the item was illegally collected. To provide customer guarantee, websites have their own rules to prove authenticity and guarantee that when a customer is shopping for an item, they are not buying an illegal item. Ebay states, under their section for Native American arts, crafts, or jewelry that “any item described as Alaska Native, American Indian, or Native American but be made by an enrolled member of a state or federally recognized tribe or by someone certified.” The website also says that any artifact that has unknown origin cannot be claimed to be Native American. This provides better customer satisfaction and protects funeral objects because all artifacts require proof. Burke Museum states that laws are in place to ensure legality and so that items are in the hands of their owner.

I agree with what the laws state and why they are in place. I believe that it is unlawful and unethical to dig up and sell artifacts belonging to the deceased or to the Native American tribes. I believe that if artifacts were found, the collectors should ask the owners of the artifact or find an owner and ask for their permission to sell or display the artifact. It would be quite shocking to go on Ebay and see one of your family heirlooms for sale, when it was not you or your family who put it there.

                However, there are loopholes that can be found on these rules. In my opinion, loopholes could come from an “accidental finding.” Technically, the law goes as far as to state that an artifact found in someone’s backyard or in the woods rightfully belongs to the government. However, as kids, we all like to go search for artifacts in the woods or in our backyards. How is a kid supposed to know what types of digging up “treasure” is legal. Kids at the age of five or six are not taught these kinds of rules. In my opinion, one or two items are okay. But if a kid has ten or twenty items, then the parents should be monitoring and making sure all the items found are okay by the law. But, even if parents do not realize this, law enforcement does enforce these laws. There are members of law enforcement who will raid houses, if a suspect is thought to have many illegally obtained artifacts.

These laws apply to collecting outside of Native American artifacts, but also to other tribes and groups. When I was at Macchu Picchu, our tour guide told us that a lot of the objects that were dug up were not returned to the Peruvian Government. Instead, the artifacts are housed at Yale University because it was a Yale professor who discovered them. At times, the kid rule, “finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers,” can be unfair. These artifacts at Macchu Picchu rightfully belong to the Peruvian government since they have belonged on the Peruvian land for hundreds of years.

                These laws behind collecting Native American artifacts are in place for ethical reasons and to prevent illegal obtainment of artifacts. It is unethical to dig up a coffin and look for items that were buried with the coffin just for money. Personal heirlooms and funeral items should be left undisturbed as respect. Collectors need to be able to think about ethical reasons, instead of just being unscrupulous and only caring about the value of the object. In doing so, the descendants of the Native American tribe will be much happier, knowing that they will not have belongings stolen from them for money and that their ancestor’s graves are respected.               

Pictures:

An example of where some of the artifacts were stolen from

Native American Artifacts: Spearheads, Arrowheads, and an Ax Head

An Auction House where Native American Artifacts can be sold

Native American Artifact: A Water Jar

Artifacts that have been Confiscated by the FBI

Sources:

• Chicora - Collecting Artifacts

• I used this website as an introduction to the topic of controversies surrounding collecting of artifacts in general. The website discussed possible controversies from collecting artifacts. The website also discussed the laws associated with collecting and how they can be broken.

• PBS - Safely Collecting Indian Artifact

• This website was useful in explaining the controversies involved in Native American artifact controversies. Also, it was useful in explaining the laws and how they apply. It also explained why "pot hunting" is common, due to an increase in the value of the artifacts.

• Office of United States Attorneys - Native American Artifact

• This website was useful because it is a website by the government designed to state the laws surrounding collecting Native American Artifacts.

•  Ebay Laws

• This website was helpful because it showed me that sites such as Ebay have rules as to how artifacts have to be certified, to prevent replicas from being sold as originals.

• Controversy on Collecting - American University

• This website was useful because it shows the controversies that surround collecting. It mainly states how artifacts can be acquired and the process the owners, or tribes, have to go through to prove that an artifact was originally theirs.

• Relate Native American opinions to Machu Picchu controversy

• This website provided other situations in which collectors have been scrutinized. One such example that I plan to use to relate to the circumstances surrounding Native Americans is the case that Peru plans to sue the US over the fact that Yale University houses objects that were found at Machu Picchu. Yale believes that since they found it, it’s their objects now and Peru believes that since the objects were on their land, they should have ownership over the objects.

•  The oddly aggressive enforcement of cultural artifact laws

• This website was useful because it recounted some situations when families  have experienced law enforcement of the Native American artifacts.

• Burke Museum - Archaeology Laws

• This website was useful because I was able to read the website and find  a loophole in the laws of collecting. This website was also useful because I was able to see how the laws differed at the level of the individual, the state, and the country.

•  Indiana University - Q&A 

• This website was useful because it was a questions and answers about collecting and the laws behind collecting. It was good because it defined exactly what an artifact was, which is important in knowing what is legal to collect and what is not. It was also useful because it gave insights as to how people, who are not law enforcement, can help to enforce the law.