PREFACE

The commercialization of the record of human history in the United States has reached epidemic proportions—nothing is sacred, no place is immune. I believe we all see this destruction as one of the major challenges confronting the archeological community in the coming decade. An opportunity to inform and rally archeologists to this challenge came during the 54th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology held in Atlanta, Georgia, this past April. In a plenary session entitled "Our Vanishing Past—The Willful Destruction of a Nation's Heritage," noted scholars, politicians, professional archeologists, and concerned individuals from varied walks of life discussed the extent and impact of looting and vandalism and how we might combat the problem through more effective law enforcement, legislation, training, and education.

To augment the plenary session, Dr. Kent Schneider, Regional Archeologist, U.S. Forest Service, and I agreed to organize and chair a symposium which focused attention on vandalism occurring at archeological sites throughout the Southeast. Our symposium, "Coping with Site Looting: Southeastern Perspectives," considered ways and exchanged views on how the professional community and the American public are coming to terms with one another to protect, preserve, and use the region's diminishing cultural heritage.

The symposium drew a large and enthusiastic audience. In the course of conversations after the session, the possibility of publishing the presented papers was musingly discussed. A quick canvassing of symposium participants and the general audience revealed overwhelming support for such an idea. Because archeological resource crime is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore, I offered to work with the authors to publish and distribute the symposium proceedings through the auspices of the National Park Service.

My small contribution to the consequential volume has been largely clerical, and even then, I am most thankful to Ms. Patricia Landers and Ms. Jean Godbee who actually typed the final drafts. Their patience and cooperation are appreciated. Finally, but foremost, it is with sincere appreciation that I thank the authors for their cooperation and generous expenditure of time in an already full schedule of regular duties.

Our hope is that this collection of papers will serve to disseminate information and generate discussion which will lead to more effective strategies for protecting archeological sites and to a lessening in archeological resource crime. We must educate ourselves on the issues and reach out and combat the problem at a grassroots level. It is our responsibility to educate the general public—young people in particular—about the loss of our cultural legacy. Should we fail through our own complacency to stimulate interest in and appreciation of this Nation's rich history, we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

Return to the Table of Contents