Taking artifacts away from one of these sites not only removes clues to what was going on there, it also removes the best information available for identifying the site’s age, because many ancient artifact styles were only used during particular eras.
These actions against trafficking in artifacts have been taken by many local, state, federal, and international governments because rather than occurring alone, most ancient artifacts are associated with other artifacts strewn over the ground, even if there is no architecture visible.Įven though a relic collector might not see ancient structures or other cultural features in the vicinity of artifacts that catch one’s eyes, surface artifacts often indicate locations where prehistoric people built houses, or conducted activities centered around outdoor fireplaces, storage pits, or agricultural works, or where they killed game, or collected wild natural resources, or buried their dead, or participated in historical battles. This fact has been recognized internationally by the enactment of restrictions and severe penalties for trafficking in archaeological artifacts. Relic collecting, from simple gathering of a few pot sherds to organized pot hunting and other unauthorized commerce in antiquities, is one of the most destructive forces decimating our nation’s and the world’s cultural heritage. Removal of artifacts from archaeological sites – whether prehistoric items or historical glass and metal objects – literally removes pieces of history. Though these outdoor scatters of artifacts are usually not very noticeable and may not seem to be significant, they represent places where people conducted activities long ago, and as such they are sites of ancient human activity, also known as “archaeological sites.”Īny concentration of artifacts in which many of the items present are more than 50 years old is considered an archaeological site under federal and local government regulations. Most people don’t realize that the piece of painted pottery, the stone projectile point, the glass bottle, or the coin or other metal object they’ve discovered somewhere outdoors, is part of a cultural context – an association of several items that all date to about the same time period.
The following essay by Old Pueblo co-founder Allen Dart elaborates on how collection of archaeological material for personal enjoyment or profit is detrimental to archaeological sites and the contextual information associated with materials contained in those sites, and usually is illegal.ĪRTIFACT COLLECTING AND THE PRESERVATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SITESĪlthough collecting ancient artifacts can make for some very beautiful personal collection displays and may not be illegal on private land, I find it rather disheartening whenever I see ancient artifacts collected for people’s personal collections or for resale.
In accordance with the Society for American Archaeology’s Ethics in Professional Archaeology and the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970, Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and its employees do not offer monetary appraisals of archaeological artifacts because doing so encourages the collection of such objects for personal enjoyment or profit, which results in the destruction of archaeological sites and of contextual information that is essential to understanding the archaeological record.
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center Does Not Offer Monetary Appraisals
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