Science Crime Scenes from Daily Kos
Over Thanksgiving weekend, my source for archeology stories on Daily Kos sent me so many stories about crime and neglect in archeology that I put them all together in the first comment (called the tip jar) of my Daily Kos Science Saturday diary last night and titled it "Tip Jar and Science Crime Scenes." It could have been bigger. A couple of the Science Policy stories could have qualified as Science Crime Scene stories as well.,
Following my long tradition of relegating bad science news to the tip jar, I present to you this week's theme in archeology--crime and punishment.
Philadephia Inquirer: Troops headed to Iraq get lessons in ancient artifacts
By Tom Avril
Inquirer Staff Writer
While stationed in Afghanistan's rural Kunar province, Fred Straka sometimes came across mud-brick buildings where villagers were selling all manner of bric-a-brac, including old coins and bronze daggers.
"You'd see a lot of what looked like artifacts," recalled Straka, a Newark, Del., resident who was in the Delaware National Guard.
Though he bought an imitation Enfield rifle, Straka said he stayed away from objects that looked like antiquities.
Good move, he learned last week during a special two-day session at Fort Dix and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Straka is now a lieutenant colonel attached to the Army's 352d Civil Affairs Command, which is headed to Iraq next month to support local reconstruction efforts in 14 provinces.
BBC: Nine held in China after emperor family tombs' raid
By Martin Patience BBC News, Beijing
Nine people have been arrested after robbing the ancestral tombs of China's first Emperor Qin Shihuang, Chinese officials say.
They say the robbers armed with hacksaws targeted the resting places of the emperor's parents and grandparents in the north-western Shaanxi province.
Damaged coffins were found and relics taken from the tombs, reports say.
The Salt Lake Tribune: Artifacts thief pleads guilty in federal court
By Brandon Loomis
A Colorado man indicted in last year’s federal raid on Four Corners artifact looters and traffickers pleaded guilty Tuesday to excavating an archaeological site on public lands without a government permit.
Richard Bourret, 61, of Durango, Colo., admitted to the felony in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. The charge carries a maximum prison term of two years, although attorneys for Bourret and the government agreed to a plea deal that likely will result in a milder punishment.
Judge Dee Benson set sentencing for Feb. 1.
Bay City News: Pre-Columbian Figurine Seized At Airport To Be Returned In SF Ceremony
by Bay City News
November 23, 2010 11:41 AM
A gathering is planned in San Francisco today to celebrate the repatriation of a pre-Columbian figurine seized from a passenger at Oakland International Airport earlier this year.
The 2.5-inch figurine was confiscated on Feb. 10 from the luggage of a man arriving in Oakland from Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman JoAnn Winks said.
The passenger claimed he found the artifact in Ameca, a city in the state of Jalisco in western Mexico, but there were some "inconsistencies" in his story, Winks said.
The man was not detained but agreed to sign a form relinquishing property rights to the item, she said.
The Irrawady: Mrauk U Pagodas Damaged by Railroad Construction
By KHIN OO THAR
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The on-going construction of the Sittwe-Amm-Minbu railroad is damaging important cultural heritage sites in Mrauk U, a well-known site of ancient pagodas and buildings in Arakan State, according to concerned local residents.
"Although we have called for an end to this project, they haven't complied,” a Mrauk U resident told The Irrawaddy. He said damage to some pagodas has been covered over with earth. The railroad construction started on Nov. 7.
The construction project has resulted in damage or destruction of ancient pagodas, stupas, walls, strongholds, religious libraries, moats, and city walls, said local sources.
Bloomberg: Yale to Return Incan Artifacts Taken a Century Ago, Peru's President Says
By John Quigley - Nov 20, 2010 12:15 PM ET
Yale University, the third-oldest U.S. college, has agreed to return Incan artifacts taken from Peru a century ago, President Alan Garcia said.
Ernesto Zedillo, a Yale professor and a former Mexican president, promised yesterday to return the artifacts, which were excavated by archaeologist and Yale Professor Hiram Bingham from the Machu Picchu citadel in the southern Andes in 1912, Garcia said in statement dated yesterday and posted on the presidential website.
“The Peruvian government welcomes this decision and recognizes that Yale University preserved the pieces that otherwise would have been scattered around the world in private collections or might have disappeared,” Garcia said.
Times of India: Mini minar in big mess no protection
Richi Verma, TNN, Nov 23, 2010, 05.08am IST
NEW DELHI: Residents of Hasthsal Village in Uttam Nagar refer to this 17th century minaret as `Qutub Minar'. But unlike that World Heritage Site, this Mughal-era monument is a victim of neglect and urbanisation.
Though just three-storeys tall, architecturally the Hasthsal minar is very similar to the 13th century monument but it is surrounded by encroachments and has not been extended any protection by the state. Access to it is through a narrow, dingy lane that is about a half meter in width and all around you can see frenzied construction activity. When TOI visited the monument, a shack was coming up right at the base of the minar, next to a pile of garbage.
Inter Press Service News: Strong as China, Fragile as Porcelain
By Antoaneta Becker
LONDON, Nov 24, 2010 (IPS) - In times of inflationary pressures the price of patriotism too goes up. The news that an 18th century Chinese porcelain vase sold for a record-breaking 68 million dollars at a London auction to a mainland China buyer this month did not go down well either with Chinese government regulators fretting about asset bubbles or with a Chinese public angry about income inequality.
Speculation that the delicate vase may have been among the treasures looted by British troops when they sacked the imperial palaces in Beijing during the second Opium War from 1856 to 1860, did not stem a flow of criticism on Internet forums and in the usually more restrained official media.
"These relics were smuggled, stolen or looted in wars," Li Jianmin, archaeology expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told people.com.cn. "If we offer huge sums of money to buy them back, it is legalising these illegal activities."
Hat/Tip to annetteboardman for these stories.
Here's one I found on my own.
UCLA: Police, FBI investigating threats to UCLA researchers
By Phil Hampton November 23, 2010
UCLA police and the FBI are investigating two separate claims by anti-animal research extremists that razor blades and threats were mailed this month to campus researchers who work with non-human primates.
Law enforcement officials confirmed that David Jentsch, a UCLA neuroscientist, received a package at his home containing razor blades and a threatening note.
On numerous websites, extremists have claimed responsibility for mailing a similar package to a graduate student researcher working in Jentsch's laboratory. Law enforcement officials said they have no evidence that the package was received.
"These claims and threats are reprehensible criminal acts designed to intimidate UCLA researchers, and I deplore them in the strongest possible terms," Chancellor Gene Block said. "The campus is unwavering in its commitment to the safety of our researchers and their work toward a greater understanding of human physiology and behavior, and toward treatments for a wide variety of ailments, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, schizophrenia, AIDS, and cancer."
Progressives can do without violent anti-science loonies like this in our ranks. Now, if only mainstream conservatives would denounce the anti-science radicals in their midst as strongly.
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