Arrowheads, Federal Agents, Suicide, Informants…A Sad Tale from the Four Corners Area.
Posted on 02. Mar, 2010 by Shannon Graham in Artifact Finds, Events, Miscellaneous, Uncategorized
The story unfolds like a Tony Hillerman novel, except in this case unfortunately the story is real. And it is a tragedy.
In June of 2009 more than 100 Federal agents, including an FBI SWAT team arrested 26 people in Utah, Colorado in New Mexico in what the Justice Department claimed to be ‘the nation’s largest investigation of archaeological and cultural artifact thefts.
Since the arrests, two of the defendants have committed suicide; one a Santa Fe, NM salesman and the other a prominent Blanding, UT physician.
The Associated Press is now reporting that Ted Gardiner, an antiquities dealer and former grocery store CEO, shot himself. According to reports, Gardiner reportedly approached federal authorities in 2006 and was paid $7,500 a month for secretly recording transaction in the black-market trade of artifacts.
This story may not yet be over but one thing is for certain…it already does not have a happy ending.
The unfolding events can be found here.
Related Posts
17 Responses to “Arrowheads, Federal Agents, Suicide, Informants…A Sad Tale from the Four Corners Area.”
Leave a Reply
Big Ed
03. Mar, 2010
Very, very sad turn of events!
Big Ed
03. Mar, 2010
Oh yeah, who the hell is Tony Hillerman?!
Alan
04. Mar, 2010
Yea another government shit scapade. I read your article on how you have to be so secret to obtain an artifact from the surface, its ridiculous. Most officials who carry out these laws really dont care of the artifacts and past cultures for one. Also as you stated, who is to say who and who cannot pick up an artifact due to educational qualifications. May sound rude but even most archaeologist dont have purpose, due to their racial background. They are racist towards the native american cultures deep in their home when nobody else is around. Alot of artifact hunters really only appreciate high dollar points and discard anything within the last 300 years. Having a Native American background, these things infuriate me. Alot of govenment officials arent even culturally diverse and are straight white people who make these “indian” decisions. AHHHH lol its crazy man.
Alan
04. Mar, 2010
Sorry i blasted like 21 different subjects in such a little paragraph I was just ranting on whatever came to mind so if it doesnt make sense….. sorry.
jerry rogers
09. Mar, 2010
I am also part native American, but I have to wonder how you can know what a person thinks while he is in the privacy of his own home, It sound as if perhaps you have a little racist bias going on there. Come on, I know some archaeologists and they seem very sincere in their quest for knowledge about the American past, without worrying about the dollar signs. Do some self examination please.
Curtis Clay
12. Mar, 2010
I agree with Jerry. My quest for American Artifacts are based on the Indian way of life. Their perfect relationship with Mother Earth was flawless. No polution, no waste, omniversal respect for life of all things. They didn’t need anything but what was already here and their knowledge of natural resources is mind opening to the fact that they were the original “green” life style and needed no change. A perfect ballance of life and of death. I don’t have many points because I find a great many more lithics to show that not all Indian artifacts are points. TOOLS really are the learning blocks to there ways and most people reject them. Not everything artifactual is an arrowhead.
Curtis Clay
12. Mar, 2010
Oh, also I don’t do it for the money nothing I find is for sale. I do it out of rspect for the Indian past. I see what they see. It enlightens me. I wish I was born a thousand years ago as an American Indian.
theresa
19. Apr, 2010
me too- its a part of history nothing i have is for sale-
it means more to me than that!!
if we dont respect it and protect it who will…
matt
04. Aug, 2010
How about, instead of picking up the artifacts and taking them home with you, you leave them where they are and notify a registered archaeologist to come and document them. Being a professionally trained and registered archaeologist, I find it abhorrent that anyone who has “respect” for history or culture would destroy any context or provenience an artifact may have. You cannot imagine how much data can be gleened just by knowing where the artifact is, how deep it was found, or what was near it. To put it plainly, if you take a projectile point or any other artifact, you will lose 99% of any information that could have been garnered from it. If you truly love the history and culture, let the people with professional training and credentials record and protect the artifact.
Daniel J. Fox
22. Sep, 2010
How about skipping them across the pond? Are you an idiot or an archaeologist? To often it seems you are average and likely a simple idiot archaeologist. Now take away the ego, the monetary value and synthesize both professional and avocational archaeologist and maybe states like Kansas can finally validate a mammoth kill site with in-situ stone artifacts. There are literally hundreds if them. If one could actually pry an archaeologist from behind their desk and get them into the field, possibly more people whom discover surface artifacts WOULD call professionals.
I’m not sorry.
Mandi
27. Sep, 2010
I am an archaeologist. I work out in the field all the time. I work with natives all the time. I just finished showing a disturbed site to a local THPO. It was a site the elders regularly went to for prayer and other rituals. Now, all the ground stone has been collected by people like you. I’ve yet to meet a single native person who approved of non-native people collecting their culture’s property.
It sounds as though you have a great deal to learn about archaeologists. We do a LOT of fieldwork. I think I’ve sat at my desk maybe 4 times this month, and it’s the 27th.
My sole concerns are not artifacts or the research. I care about the modern descendants of those who created such artifacts. Those items aren’t just something to be collected, or something to be studied. They should be protected. The native culture I work with holds a belief that the spirit of the person who used an artifact resides in that artifact. You are not only taking an arrowhead or a mano from the ground–you are taking the spirit of a person, and that isn’t your place.
And don’t give me this “I’m part native, so it’s okay” crap. My great-grandmother was Lakota. That doesn’t make me native. I’m a white girl. However, after living and working with the tribe, I clearly have more respect for their beliefs and their property than you self-proclaimed “natives.” Tell, me, have you contacted your tribal council and let them know you’re collecting? Are you aware of your tribe’s ordinances regarding collecting? Have you discussed these issues with your THPO?
I thought not.
Stan
16. Oct, 2010
You have to be kidding Matt! You really think that an archaeologist is going to drop everything and run out to see every artifact discovered and left in situ. That’s just not going to happen. Meanwhile along comes the plow or chisel or heavy equipment and destroys what could have been saved and treasured. I have personally tried to tell local archaeologists from the Shawnee National Forest and from SIU Carbondale , IL. about petroglyph and pictograph sites that they may not have known about and also about a Mississippian site that was very close to dig that they were doing. They were very rude and basically told me that if I was doing anything illegal in these areas that I could be arrested. They were not in the least bit interested in listening to my information. It would be a waste of a phone call to report every artifact found surface hunting.
Mandi
25. Oct, 2010
I’m sorry someone was rude to you, Stan. I can assure you, not every single archaeologist is that way, and it is short-sighted of you to generalize the behavior of an entire profession based on a single experience.
We may not be able to “drop everything” but I know I would ask for locational information (GPS coordinates, if you have them) and photographs. I would visit the site when possible. I would also make an effort to visit the place with the person who discovered it.
However, if the land is managed by an agency (BLM, Forest Service, etc), I would need to notify the archaeologists of that agency before visitation.
For heaven’s sake, we aren’t ogres.
lostpoke
11. Nov, 2010
I have seen and found literally hundreds of artifacts and insitu sites around the SW, I have left with the respect of the land and the wonder of great civilizations previous to ours in my wake. Sites with ownership on private land one should always ask and use proper etiquite for walking on ones property. As with all things which people perceive valuable use good judgement before a trail is left or a sentence is made, enjoy the great outdoors and the wonders of it all in good taste, Lostpoke.
Ego
01. Feb, 2011
Ive been hunting 35 years now and Ive heard it all. One of t ownerohe most notable sites in Texas is the Gault site. Over a couple of decades UT excavated this site and completed their research. It was open to the public to dig by the owner for 25$ a day. We started diging just a few yards off the main camp and discovered a much older ocupational site.The land sold and diging ceased UNTILL. new owners called UT to examine mamoth bones. to shareBecause of debitage my associates and I unearthed UT leased the property for 3 years and finally pulled their head out to discover the longest term clovis occupational site in the state. Had it not been for my friendsand I this would still be an undiscovered site.We were bashed in the newspaper for our efforts to explore the past our thirst for first hand knowlege.that archys seem reluctant to share. I documinted fy finds and my theorys are just as good as theirs maby better. Look how long its taken for archiology to realize man on this continant is more than 11000 years old. I hope the paper holding pros can catch up
Ego
01. Feb, 2011
By the way I have the best 4in. translucent clovis point ever unearthed from that site and it aint for sale and yes it was in the mammoth bones
mark
04. May, 2011
Hi, Matt! you say leave the artifacts on the surface and contact the blm archaeologist. Someone did that in southeast NM, And the blm arhaeologist Recored and took them without contacting a govermant agency. Who,s in charge of who,s in charge. did his home get raided? i have heard for years about people who work for federal agencies who have nice collections!! What a bunch of crap!!