https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/4...ge-held-by-armed-group/ar-BBoe5ST?ocid=HPCDHP
"Thousands of archaeological artifacts — and maps detailing where more can be found — are kept inside the national wildlife refuge buildings currently being held by an armed group of protestors angry over federal land policy.
Ryan Bundy, one of the leaders of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon, says they have no real interest in the antiquities. Still, their access to the artifacts and maps has some worried that looters could take advantage of the situation.
"There's a huge market for artifacts, especially artifacts that have provenance, where you can identify where they came from," said Carla Burnside, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's refuge archeologist.
More than 300 recorded prehistoric sites are scattered across the refuge, including burial grounds, ancient villages and petroglyphs. Some of the artifacts — including spears, stone tools, woven baskets and beads — date back 9,800 years."
"......Scientists are also worried about unintentional damage that could be done to the prehistoric sites by cattle, vehicles and heavy equipment.
The group at the ranch has driven road graders and other large construction equipment around the refuge headquarters buildings, but Bundy said they haven't used the machinery to move any earth. He wouldn't rule out that possibility, however.
In 2014, Ryan Bundy and supporters of the Bundy family rode ATVs on federal land closed to motorized vehicles in Utah as part of a protest. Their route took them along an illegal trail that crossed through Native American archeological sites."
Bundy said people interested in archeology are welcome to explore the refuge, but that cattle ranchers and loggers should have priority when it comes to land use.
"Before white man came, so to speak, there was nothing to keep cattle from tromping on those things," Bundy said.
Though some countries had domesticated cattle 10,000 years ago, the animals came to the United States with European settlers.
"We also recognize that the Native Americans had the claim to the land, but they lost that claim," Bundy said. "There are things to learn from cultures of the past, but the current culture is the most important."
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I don't know if significant damage was done to sites in earlier protests, but our prehistoric/ historic cultural resources are also under federal protection, and for good reason. Once destroyed, they cannot be repaired. The info that comes from artifacts preserved in context is destroyed. In so many words, the protestors attitude seems to be the present and present culture trumps the past. They drove through ancient sites previously despite being asked not to......
"Before white man came, so to speak, there was nothing to keep cattle from tromping on those things," Bundy said.
Besides the fact that no, there were no cattle before white men, Bundy is basically saying nobody was protecting these cultural resources before, so why care about those cultural resources now? Or as he likes to call our irreplaceable cultural resources, "those things". Lovers of the past these people are not......