Meth Addicts Are Killing America's Heritage

Throw every stereotype you've ever known, loved, and cherished out the window. According to USA Today, it's not gays, Jews, blacks, or racist rednecks who are slowly chip-chipping away at the foundations of American society - it's meth addicts.

Please, allow me to clarify: if you've read any of my previous blog entries (and you have, since I'm pretty sure you're my anthropology professor and no one else), you'll have realized that archaeological looting is a big problem, not confined to one particular site or locale. The National Museum of Iraq was looted not long after the Saddam regime began to crumble, and incidences of historical theft run back from the days of the ancient Egyptians to the sacking of Rome and the burning of Baghdad. I'd have to think that most people are aware that bad things happen to important places - but, as it so happens, we rarely get the opportunity to hear of how our own heritage has been stolen by drug addicts with bad teeth and bulging eyeballs.

From a global perspective, more than three-quarters of archaeologists working domestically and abroad have complained of suffering at least one occurrence of looting. Sometimes the looters come armed and in broad daylight; other times, they sneak in with shovels at night or work at sites themselves, pocketing the occasional valuable and selling it to gangs of nefarious artifact buyers.

But, should you be an American looter, you might not be looking to feed your starving child or repatriate the corpse of your fallen Pharaoh. Maybe you're looking for a quick drug fix, which is why US archaeologists in eighteen states were alone in the international survey in reporting repeated victimization by meth addicts. USA Today notes that, in 2005, the Bureau of Land Management conceded that many individuals arrested for looting had also been implicated in the running of meth labs. To avoid plagiarizing, let me copy-and-paste this segment of the article:

"... Archaeology Magazine in 2009 noted more reports of meth lab operators stealing Anasazi relics. In the survey, Proulx collected comments such as "Meth nuts are the relic collectors," from one Arkansas researcher, as well as similar ones in California, Oregon and Southeastern states."

 These results are questionable, given the relatively low response rate of archaeologists selected for the survey on looting. But, should meth addicts truly be responsible for chopping down the cherry tree of American integrity, there does exist an interesting explanation:

"The survey started to get these comments from U.S. archaeologists, just popping out of the responses," Proulx said. She suggests that since meth labs are often found in isolated areas, just like archaeological sites, geographical coincidence may explain the complaints. Meth addicts are known for repetitive behavior and may find digging at sites soothing, she adds in the study."

Draw your own conclusions. I'm prone to thinking that if anybody is out there on drugs thinking they're Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom, it's those kids from the "420" crowd. 

Sources: 

USA Today

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2011/11/survey-meth-addicts-looting-us-archeological-sites/1#.T52GddVKiuI

Archaeological Looting on American Television

Since I've run out of exciting Iraqi topics, I've decided to shift my lens of focus from the Middle-East to the entirety of our awesome planet Earth.

Not really what I was getting at, but thanks anyway, Google. 

Southwest Archaeology Today dolefully reported Spike TV's airing of a new, unscripted television show that apparently glorifies looting and the trading of unregistered antiquities. Though I myself am not familiar with the program, it's called American Digger, premiering earlier this year in March. The program centers around the excavating of locations associated with historical documents, generally found through private brokers and on privately-owned land. Part of the drama comes from what the appropriate Wikipedia article describes as "many Americans being protective of their land." Imagine that.

If any items are uncovered in the treasure hunt, their financial worth and accompanying historical significance are assessed by the appropriate experts. Should anything found be deemed valuable, the hosts of American Digger put it up for auction and split the profits with whichever protective American decided to allow Spike onto his or her land.

I guess I can sort of see why Wikipedia stopped pretending to not be biased.

A similar show airs on the National Geographic Channel (this time called simply Diggers), of all places. Susan Gillespie of the University of Florida criticizes both networks, saying that, "“Our main issue is that these shows promote the destruction and selling of artifacts which are part of our cultural heritage and patrimony.” I assume that her use of an inclusive pronoun is an extension of her background in anthropology - although the context isn't made incredibly clear, I've gotten the impression that she's either speaking or portends to be speaking on behalf of the academic community.

The main complaint of professors like Gillespie and such publications as Southwest Archaeology is that shows like American Digger promote the systematic destruction of United States' history. I personally would be inclined to agree with this conclusion, if only to a certain extent - after all, our economy is a capitalist one, and not every important artifact with invariably end up inside the Smithsonian. Should the folks on American Digger present an image more in line with that espoused by ostensibly enraged archaeologists the nation over? Yeah, probably.

I, however, doubt that Spike TV is all too concerned with academic integrity as it is with turning a profit.