Landowners often loot or destroy archaeological sites. Is
this new subdivision a solution?
By Nick Romeo
“When he was a boy in the 1930's, (Archie) Hanson loved
collecting beads, fishhooks, arrowheads, shells, and any other tangible relics
of the Native American tribes that once inhabited the California coast where he
lived near Long Beach. Throughout a prosperous career as a California land
developer, he continued amassing an amateur collection, flying a helicopter
along his private stretch of coast and landing to grab artifacts. In the late
1980s, he and Mary became interested in the archaeology of Southwest Colorado
after taking a river rafting trip guided by three archaeologists associated
with the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, a nonprofit institute located next
to ICR that is dedicated to research and public education. Mary loved picking
up beads and arrowheads as much as Archie did, but on this rafting trip someone
was always admonishing her to put them back down. “Finally I said to Archie,
‘Let’s get 10 acres so I can do what I want,’ ” Mary told me. “Here they believe
in property rights,” Archie added. “You can dig up skulls and throw ’em over
your shoulder.”
“I really respected archaeology,” Archie told me, “but I was
doing a development here. So how do you treat ground that contains ruins
respectfully?”
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