A story I’ve been writing about and following closely since last summer has taken another odd and tragic turn. Here’s a can of worms that’s bound to be pried open: Ted Gardiner, who had many off-the-record and deep background conversations with The Salt Lake Tribune during the past eight months, insisted he had come to…Continue Reading…
For a would-be pothunter, I supppose arrowheads are like a gateway drug. Of course, not everybody becomes a junkie. And most people who become addicted to uncovering a piece of the past don’t become pothunters. That said, see if you can match the quote to the right author below. Don’t click on a link until…Continue Reading…
There seems to be lingering anger and bewilderment over the FBI’s conduct in the June arrests of 16 suspected pothunters in Blanding, Utah. In my own reporting on this story, it’s one of the angles I covered here and here. Since then, I’ve been surprised to see that some authorities and former prominent government officials…Continue Reading…
I’ve recently spent a lot of time reporting in the Four Corners region of the Southwest. When this blog goes dark for a few days, it’s usually because I’m on assignment somewhere in the backcountry, or frantically trying to meet a magazine deadline. So one of the stories I’ve been working on is about archaeology…Continue Reading…
Now that my CU Fellowship is over, I’ve been out in the field reporting on a bunch of stories, so blogging has been light the last few weeks. Here’s a piece on the big pothunting investigation I recently wrote for Science magazine, published today (sub req). For those who haven’t followed the twists and turns…Continue Reading…
An archaeologist discovers a very curious thing: It appears that electronic buying and selling has actually hurt the antiquities trade. How can this be? The short answer is that many of the primary “producers” of the objects have shifted from looting sites to faking antiquities. I’ve been tracking eBay antiquities for years now, and from…Continue Reading…
Is there any difference between professional deep-sea treasure hunters and raggedy-ass grave-robbing pot-hunters? The recent discovery of a booty-laden British warship buried 330 feet below the English Channel begs the question. In 1744, the HMS Victory, bearing 100 brass canons, and a crew of 1150, sank in a violent storm. Its fate has been one…Continue Reading…