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…
Earlier this summer, after federal investigators arrested two dozen residents from Blanding, Utah, for looting ancient Indian burials, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) was quick to denounce the FBI’s conduct. Hatch called the federal pothunting raid “overkill” and asked Congress to investigate the FBI’s sting operation. A Salt Lake Tribune editorial scolded Hatch for trying to…Continue Reading…
The pothunting story in Utah that has captured my attention is actually just one tentacle of a sprawling illegal antiquities investigation across the Southwest. I’ve known this for some time, having talked to various dealers snared in the federal sting operation. None of them have been arrested so their role has gone largely unmentioned in…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…