Yesterday I received as a gift a small piece of pottery, "Made in
China" embossed and painted with a native American "head" in eagle
feather headdress, (somewhat like the old "Buffalo nickel" which
replaced the "half-dime" coinage so small and thin it invites Swiftian
comparisons, the bison the symbol of the Dept. of the Interior, being
asked to become 80% of its former self) purchased in Florida on a
vacation.

My point is that American culture has a symbolic role in the world
economy and archaeology has been drafted into laws to protect and
discover historical information, which may actually be the first cut
in budget "trimming" which is unfortunate, because maybe "relic
hunting" might be all that's left and the "diabolical" intent of the
budget process. I was told major cuts occurred at the Federal level
under the Reagan administration that left three archaeologists in the
whole administration to service the U.S. National Parks system. In
Israel archaeologists bang potsherds together outside the government
to protest bad law, perhaps we should question whether a perceived
"invasion" of rights of ownership really have anything whatsoever to
do with the the procedures for scientific sanctioned archaeology,
which often is because of state law not federal law.

What remains to be seen is where this 20% reduction of the Dept. of
Interior's operations will come under this President. It would be a
shame to see it also result in a rise of illegal looting of
archaeological sites on federal lands, because of even less
protection.

George Myers

The two cent coin was real!  I didn't know that. ("The two-cent coin
was produced in the United States from 1864-1873 with decreasing
mintages throughout that time." Wikipedia)