Some Stone Mounds are destroyed as they are being robbed, as discussed here on Rock Piles before:
“WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010/More treasure hunters digging up "Indian Graves"
Peter wrote: "Tim MacSweeney found this [ http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2010/10/disturbing.html ] on "Treasurenet." It includes photos of evenly spaced rock piles from the Tennessee/Virginia area, along with various theories. The phrase they keep using is "if I see bones, I will stop digging". I wonder if the FBI should look into these people who are openly discussing committing felonies? Visit "Waking up on Turtle Island" for several interesting posts, including more discussion of how meth addicts are compounding the problem of excavating graves in Ozarks.” [http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-treasure-hunters-digging-up-indian.html]
Stone Mounds are “excavated” professionally to look for artifacts to identify the culture that created them, often without looking at the Stone Mound as the intact artifact that it is. Even worse is the unprofessional “excavation.” I just became aware of this following disturbing series of notes and photos for example:
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012/03/start-of-excavation.html
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/dig-progress-report-2.html
(This one prompted my comment: “This is horrible!! I urge you to please stop this. Cleaning debris off a stone mound is one thing, but to destroy an intact artifact is very disturbing to me and inexcusable to the ancestors of the person or persons who created this stone mound.”)
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html
Any discussion of any Stone Mound (Stone Heap, Rock Pile, Memory Pile, Cairn or any other expression you may think of) that I’ve ever had with any Native American person, always includes a warning about NOT removing even a single stone from any mound, whether it is a single stone on a single boulder or a 30 foot wide mound of stones with four boulders at the cardinal points of the compass - because bad luck will follow.
Sounds superstitious? Something from a Stephen King movie or another movie, such as “The “Poltergeist” perhaps? Much the same is said about taking “lava rocks” from Hawaii: “It is an old legend that taking lava rocks from Hawaii results in being followed by bad luck. Lava rocks that have wrongfully been taken from Hawaii should be returned by the person who took it. If you can't bring them back in person and you would like to mail lava rock back to Hawaii you can mail them to us.”
Consider this comment that follows: "After seeing a story on the CBS show "Sunday Morning", I knew I had to return a lava rock and black sand which was taken in 1977 while on a visit to the Big Island via a Navy ship on a dependent's cruise. I never in my wildest dreams ever associated so much bad luck with the items we took from Madame Pele. I am returning them tomorrow along with a donation for your assistance in this matter. Your ceremony sounds so lovely and is much nicer than being thrown in a pile behind the Visitor Center. Thank you so much!!!! Joyce, Jacksonville Beach, Florida"
Consider all the pages of comment after comment at "Return Lava Rock to Hawaii!" http://www.volcanogallery.com/lavarock.htm
“WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2010/More treasure hunters digging up "Indian Graves"
Peter wrote: "Tim MacSweeney found this [ http://wakinguponturtleisland.blogspot.com/2010/10/disturbing.html ] on "Treasurenet." It includes photos of evenly spaced rock piles from the Tennessee/Virginia area, along with various theories. The phrase they keep using is "if I see bones, I will stop digging". I wonder if the FBI should look into these people who are openly discussing committing felonies? Visit "Waking up on Turtle Island" for several interesting posts, including more discussion of how meth addicts are compounding the problem of excavating graves in Ozarks.” [http://rockpiles.blogspot.com/2010/10/more-treasure-hunters-digging-up-indian.html]
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012/03/start-of-excavation.html
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012/04/dig-progress-report-2.html
(This one prompted my comment: “This is horrible!! I urge you to please stop this. Cleaning debris off a stone mound is one thing, but to destroy an intact artifact is very disturbing to me and inexcusable to the ancestors of the person or persons who created this stone mound.”)
http://bmf-news.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html
Sounds superstitious? Something from a Stephen King movie or another movie, such as “The “Poltergeist” perhaps? Much the same is said about taking “lava rocks” from Hawaii: “It is an old legend that taking lava rocks from Hawaii results in being followed by bad luck. Lava rocks that have wrongfully been taken from Hawaii should be returned by the person who took it. If you can't bring them back in person and you would like to mail lava rock back to Hawaii you can mail them to us.”
Consider this comment that follows: "After seeing a story on the CBS show "Sunday Morning", I knew I had to return a lava rock and black sand which was taken in 1977 while on a visit to the Big Island via a Navy ship on a dependent's cruise. I never in my wildest dreams ever associated so much bad luck with the items we took from Madame Pele. I am returning them tomorrow along with a donation for your assistance in this matter. Your ceremony sounds so lovely and is much nicer than being thrown in a pile behind the Visitor Center. Thank you so much!!!! Joyce, Jacksonville Beach, Florida"
Consider all the pages of comment after comment at "Return Lava Rock to Hawaii!" http://www.volcanogallery.com/lavarock.htm
Very sad. One wonders what the diggers expect to find?
ReplyDeleteCan you believe that guy?
ReplyDeleteAnother story about a modern Indian Tribe failing to grasp the nature of the past, in their own ancestral lands. As for archeologists who think "Historic Period" precludes Native American, well, they should seek other work.