Today Egypt Revealed Looters Prey on National Parks Park Rangers Fight Rising Tide of Artifact Hunters America's national parks increasingly are falling prey to illegal artifact hunters, and park rangers are struggling to staunch the flow of looted history.
People are interested in the past and the artifacts associated with it.
The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 prohibits the removal of artifacts from federal or Indian lands without a permit. The law bared its teeth recently when two treasure hunters were arrested after digging 40 holes in land slated for archaeological excavation at Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. National parks in the Mid-Atlantic region, mostly Civil War battlefields, report a significant increase in looting over the past five to ten years. Kim Coast, chief ranger at Manassas, blames urban development for much of it, since new malls, offices, and homes have sharply reduced private lands accessible to artifact collectors.