Oh, great, we have 50 million new artifacts to record in the state of Wyoming. Well, at least half will be found in old archaeological field camps, so that will make it easier. We know where those are.
http://westerndigs.org/ring-tab-beer-cans-are-now-officially-historic-artifacts/
In this photo, you are looking at the guard tower at Manzanar, the Japanese Relocation Camp in California.
When President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Japanese Americans to be incarcerated in camps in their own country, they lost everything: Their homes, their possessions, their identity as Americans. They became exiles in their own country. Kathy had a professor whose family had been incarcerated at Manazar in California. His tales of what it was like as a boy growing up in that camp were heartbreaking. It’s difficult for us to understand how anyone can sell artifacts stolen from any archaeological or historical site…but selling artifacts from sites like this is especially troubling.
If you had the chance to buy Hitler’s hat, would you? Would you buy an artifact stolen from Auschwitz? Why or why not?
Four Ajanta caves to be closed to the public
One of the most difficult decisions that any archaeological or historical site has to make is over public access to the site. How much traffic can those fragile resources take before they begin to deteriorate so much that preserving them means prohibiting people from seeing them? The Ajanta Caves recently decided to close four caves to protect them. While this affects the ability to educate the public, we think it was the right decision. These sacred sites are too precious to watch them fade into the dust.
