I also read the latest articles, and reading between the lines it seems to
me there could be more going on here than meets the eye.  Put yourself in
the landowners position.  If I was at an impasse with the state on the
purchase of my reportedly historically significant property because the
price being offered by the state was not what I thought it was worth, I'd
want to do something to show the state that it's worth more than they are
currently willing to offer.  Maybe I would let some professionally
experienced local archaeologists with an interest in the property dig around
a little hoping to find something that would get the the public's and the
state's attention, and increase the value of the land in question,
especially if they could locate that cemetery where some soldiers were
reportedly buried.

As is often the case, follow the money.

Al Tonetti
ASC Group, Inc.
4620 Indianola Avenue
Columbus, OH 43214-1861
(614) 268-2514 x18
(614) 268-7881 fax
[log in to unmask]
www.ascgroup.net



-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Ron
May
Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2006 1:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: French and Indian War Graves & NY Looting merged at last



In a message dated 6/7/2006 8:36:21 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2006/06/07/news/doc44864d99ede07305807864.t
xt



Ok, I read those latest articles and the most telling evidence is the fact
they used a "front end loader" to cut a swath through the cemetery. To their
credit, the burials have been pedestalled in place, but has anyone seen
their
field notes, drawings, and photographs? Moreover, the photos I did see did
not
 reveal a standard excavation grid. The soil was just heaped outside the dig
area, not in piles under a shaker screen, which looks more like a looter's
pit  than an archaeology project. I guess we ought to wait to hear from the
New
York  SHPO, assuming they would share their findings with us and not their
state  attorney general.

I think the point here is that we all have known interested amateurs who
want to make discoveries on their own and become famous before they die, so
venture out collecting and pot-holing on weekends. In states with weaker
laws,
where land owners allow collecting, and where amateurs get hired as property
managers, it is easier for the untrained to justify collecting and digging.
Heck, most of the people who went through field school with me over the
years
probably went out collecting at some point in their lives. We even had a
discussion a few months back that smoked-out federal employees (one a land
manager)
who are hobby collectors and diggers. We have to draw a line in the  sand as
to how we distinguish a professional and am amateur. Beyond academia,  there
is the Register of Professional Archaeologists and that has been the line  I
have drawn in the sand. I am very sorry to learn that American history has
been
compromised by a mechanical front-end loader and two adventurers who could
not wait to bring-in professional archaeologists to investigate this very
important site in a proper manner.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.