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7 IJCP 87 (1998)
The Ethics of Archaeology, Subsistence Digging, and Artifact Looting in Latin America: Point Muted Counterpoint

handle is hein.journals/injculpy7 and id is 90 raw text is: The Ethics of Archaeology, Subsistence Digging, and Artifact Looting in Latin America: Point, Muted Counterpoint DAVID MATSUDA* The author portrays the indigenous populations who engage in subsistence digging of sites in Latin America both as a means of supporting themselves economically and as a way of connecting themselves to their past and their ancestors who left the buried rem ains as a type of gift to their descendants. The article is also critical of the mainstream archaeologists, who, according to the au- thor hide behind the veil of scientfic objectivity. Finally, the author juxtaposes the varying coin- peting interests, particularly against the backdrop of denial of basic human and economic rights in these regions, and poses the question, to whom should these cultural reinains belong? SEVERAL MAYA AND I PASS from the jungle proper and into an un- charted archaeological ruin. We move through a Classic period site, past grand edifices and sprawling plazas covered in vegetation, and into a ceremonial dis- trict where the Maya investigate a series of large house-mounds for traces of ancient pole and thatch structures. Like farmers using planting sticks, inilperos,' or traditional farmers, hop- ing to find buried artifacts, repeatedly probe the collapsed, earth-covered structures with ramientas, or metal rods, usually a piece of construction cable used to set concrete. Having located what they believe to be a cluster of en- tombed remains, the Maya set about digging. I position myself near one of the irregularly shaped excavation pits. There I watch, listen, and fan away smoke from burning cow dung used as insect re- pellent, as cainpesinos, or rurals, grunt and strain their way through ancient back- fill using picks and shovels, heading toward a cache of artifacts. When all tool work stops, I look down into the pit, where a Maya is on his knees delicately uncovering something with his gnarled, bare hands. Within moments, he lifts a dirt-encrusted object up out of the makeshift excavation and on to the rain- forest floor. He then climbs from the pit and brushes off his find. Ah, semi- la, he says, holding the artifact up like a proud fisherman displaying his catch. *Dr. David Matsuda has observed the pre-Columbian art market for over a decade. He recently completed a year-long study of subsistence digging in and around Belize for the Organization of American States and the Government of Belize. C 1998 International Cultural Property Society 1 ANCESTORS' GIFT

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