Pleased as we were with this success, we knew only too well that the vast majority of archaeological resources in the United States are on private land, subject to the whim of the owners. No one has any idea of what still exists, but the few estimates that are available are appalling. For example, in 1880 the Bureau of Ethnology estimated there were 20,000 burial mounds in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys. It is estimated that less than 200 survive today, and those on private lands are still without protection. As a result, legal looting on private lands has correspondingly increased.
Professional looters buy looting rights or simetimes even sites themselves.
One old trick used in the Southwest has been to buy a site at a high price, but with little or no down payment, then loot the site and default on the mortgage. Whereas other countries have taken possession or at least control of their antiquity, two factors make that unlikely in the United States. No other nation in the world gives such prominent protection of private property rights. Secondly, there is the reality of the dominant group in our society, i.e. persons of European stock, being unrelated either racially or culturally to the Nation's prehistoric archaeological remains. While legislation to regulate the digging of archaeological sites may pass court review, no one that I know believes ownership of the resource rests anywhere but with the owner of the land.