NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Archaeologists, Native Americans and the residents of Bells Bend are outraged by looters they say are digging up burial sites along the Cumberland River bank, then selling the artifacts for money.
It's a problem that's been going on for decades, said Mike Moore, state archaeologist and director of the Tennessee Division of Archaeology. But the May floods caused an uptick in the number of lootings, scientists say.
“The flood caused a tremendous amount of erosion, so more of the stone box (gravesites) interred there are now visible,” said Tom Pertierra, chief executive officer of Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey Inc., a nonprofit company that supports public archaeology. “The looters can see it, and they're taking advantage of it by coming in at night and systematically digging away at it.”
Pertierra spent about a month working on the 808 acres of Bells Bend Park with other volunteers.
The project, which wrapped up last week, was sponsored by a Tennessee Historic Commission grant, in conjunction with UT-Knoxville, the University of Arizona, the Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey Inc. and Bells Bend Park.
Each day, about 25-30 students, volunteers and archaeologists patrolled the banks of the Cumberland in search of artifacts, said project director David Anderson, a professor and associate head of the department of anthropology at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
Almost every day, the workers would find signs of looting, Anderson said.
“The looting that's going on there is among the worst I've seen in the country,” Anderson said. “It's disturbing. The looters visit these graves and rip them apart looking for antiquities. People are literally robbing graves here.”
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'Something needs to be done'
About three weeks ago, Bells Bend landowner Barry Sulkin was on the river for a swim with his Labrador Skylar when he noticed two people poking around on the bank.
“I'm sure they could just say they were looking around, not necessarily for artifacts and that would be the end of it,” Sulkin said. “It's very difficult as a landowner to stop it unless you stand out there and just watch, and it's difficult to see them unless you're on the river. Something needs to be done. Someone needs to make it a priority, get in a boat and patrol the river.”
Metro police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford didn't find any reports of looting on file with police, but she said residents should call police and report any suspicious activity.
In Tennessee, destroying and looting gravesites is a felony no matter if the land is public or private.
LinnAnn Welch, director of Bells Bend Nature Center, said park rangers patrol the park regularly, but the majority of the historical sites are on private land spanning a 12-15 mile stretch of Bells Bend.
Melba Checote-Eads, a tribal member from Muscogee Creek Nation who lives in Middle Tennessee, said that each time a new burial site is found the state has to notify tribes, including hers.
“As long as I have lived in this state, it has been my hope to influence my tribe and others to re-bury these remains with respect and dignity,” the Woodbury resident said. “It's a horrible and offensive thing for people to sneak in, take away from the dead and desecrate a grave.”