Christine, I certainly never intended to suggest that there was a "concerted conspiracy" among archeologists. I did a little surfing, myself, partly in the Infotrack database which our library has on the net, accessible if you have a library card, and was surprised to see how many articles I have already read on the issue, which I remembered after I saw them again. This is something I have been noticing peripherally for a couple years. The New Yorker article was "The Lost Man," by Douglas Preston, June 16, 1997, as you say, not accessible on the net. I see in a November 18, 1996, Washington Times article by Leslie Horvitz that in 1993, "two Montana tribes, asserting their rights under NAGPRA, forced archeologists to stop excavating a 10,000-year-old site and turn over the material they already found."
I suggest to you that the reluctance of some archeologists, if you prefer the qualifier, to excavate may be reluctance to have to turn over the fruits of one's labors. What may change is the policy of the United States government, at present the Clinton administration supports the claims of Native Americans to have the skeletons reburied. Perhaps under an insensitive Republican like George W. Bush, the policies might change?
Now can we drop it? |
