10 Dec 2001 @ 12:43, by Roni Gemma

Greed in humans has been & always will be, but I honestly thought we were past this.

Sea :-)
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Relics sale unearths a controversy

Paying customers allowed to dig up ruins of Anasazi site
By Jerry Spangler
Deseret News staff writer

State archaeologist Kevin Jones' mantra is simple: Utah's prehistoric heritage is a priceless treasure.

Deseret News graphic
But owners of property on which sits one of Utah's largest prehistoric Anasazi pueblos believe they have found the right price: $2,500 a day per person to dig up relics of the past.
Utah archaeologists call it plundering, and they are decrying efforts by Anasazi Digs, a family-owned business based in San Juan County, to "sell" archaeological excavations wherein paying customers dig in the ruins of Montezuma Village, keeping whatever they find.
According to the company Web site, you can also purchase 1,000-year-old pottery vessels, baskets, animal snares and other artifacts. Or you can use stones from prehistoric buildings to build your own house.
"We decided to give people the opportunity to dig in a site that has never been disturbed, all under the guidelines of a licensed archaeologist," said Howard Ransdell, whose family has owned the property since the mid-1950s and erected fences to keep vandals out over the years.
Archaeologists have a different perspective of Ransdell's plan.
"I hate it. I just hate to see people plundering our sacred heritage for financial gain," Jones said.


"It's the most sickening thing I have ever run across," agreed Ray T. Matheny, a professor of anthropology at Brigham Young University who conducted his own graduate studies at the site 40 years ago. "It's plundering the past in the worst way."
But there is nothing archaeologists can do to stop it. Utah laws protecting antiquities do not apply to private property, with the exception of burials. And lawmakers have been repeatedly reluctant to infringe on the rights of landowners.
"It is unfortunate that historical properties most people would hold in high regard as historical treasures are considered a liability by the landowners," Jones said. "It is unfortunate we do not have better ways to make it attractive to landowners not to plow them under or sell off the artifacts."