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Archaeologists stop alleged looter at Chinatown site
by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian Thursday October 23, 2008, 8:46 PM
[/align] Something just didn't look right to Meris Mullaley and Stacy Schneyder as they walked Thursday morning by an empty lot at Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside Street. The women, archaeologists for environmental consulting firm ICF Jones & Stokes, saw a man with a shovel removing items from a pit in the corner lot just east of the Chinese gate, which had been the site of Cindy's Adult Book Store before it was demolished. Two archaeologists stopped a man they said was looting the site Thursday. [/align]
"I saw the shovel and water bottles and a man removing Chinese ceramics and loading them into his car," Schneyder said. To the veteran archaeologist, the pieces "were clearly important artifacts." Mullaley and Schneyder confronted the man, who told them he also was an archaeologist and that he had permission from the property owners to dig there. But his story unraveled quickly. Not only did the man, who hastily packed up and left after being confronted, not have permission from the owners, but also he lacked a required state permit to excavate or dig for artifacts. By the end of the day, the city had ordered all work to stop at the site and had hired its own contractor to put up a protective fence overnight. Ken Ames, chairman of Portland State University's anthropology department and former president of the Society for American Archaeology, called the apparent looting "a clear violation of the law," and said this is what happens with haphazard regulation of the city's historical sites. "We've been trying to move the city to deal with these resources in a better way," Ames said. "Not to blame anyone, but what we need is a process to manage these kind of historical sites." Contacted late Thursday, one of the property's owners said there's no way he would have granted permission to dig on the lot. "Some guy called me two weeks ago and told me he collected old bottles and wanted to dig in there, but I told him no," said Daniel Cossette. "I told him if he fell and hurt himself I'd have to pay." Cossette and his wife own half the property and another couple owns the other half. The lot is on the market for $3 million. Schneyder said the digger at the lot left behind glass bottles and other items that were from the turn of the century, but left with items she estimated to be of Chinese origin from the 1870s to 1890s, including what Mullaley identified as a brown stoneware soy sauce vessel. Schneyder could tell by the brick lining of the pit that it was probably the remnants of old sewer pit, that was later filled with trash. "That's a chamber pot," she said, pointing at a shard of pottery partially buried near the lip of the pit, "and that's the top of a pot." Schneyder said the deeper you go, the older the items are likely to be. "This is the kind of site that can tell us a lot about the period," she said. "I think there is still a lot of stuff left in there." For more than four hours after confronting the man, the two women stood guard over the open pit -- which is about 3 feet deep and 10 feet across -- to make sure no more artifacts, which were literally spilling out of the ground, were removed. They also called police, Portland city officials and the State Historic Preservation Office in Salem. State officials confirmed no permit had been issued to excavate the site. City Commissioner Randy Leonard's office told the contractor and the owner of the property to stop work at the site immediately, said Aaron Johnson, who's handling the case in Leonard's office. Johnson said his office had issued a demolition permit for the site, not knowing anything about archaeological artifacts there. State archeologist Dennis Griffin said in an e-mail to Johnson that he had told the city's planning commission some time ago that artifacts were at risk at the site. But the planning commission is not in charge of revoking demolition permits. Griffin told Johnson in that same e-mail that he had directed the contractor to stop digging, to no avail. "Most of our history is written by the winners, but sites like this tell a more democratic story," Mullaley said. "It's about saving our communal history."
Archaeologists stop alleged looter at Chinatown site
by Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian Thursday October 23, 2008, 8:46 PM
[/align] Something just didn't look right to Meris Mullaley and Stacy Schneyder as they walked Thursday morning by an empty lot at Northwest Fourth Avenue and Burnside Street. The women, archaeologists for environmental consulting firm ICF Jones & Stokes, saw a man with a shovel removing items from a pit in the corner lot just east of the Chinese gate, which had been the site of Cindy's Adult Book Store before it was demolished. Two archaeologists stopped a man they said was looting the site Thursday. [/align]
"I saw the shovel and water bottles and a man removing Chinese ceramics and loading them into his car," Schneyder said. To the veteran archaeologist, the pieces "were clearly important artifacts." Mullaley and Schneyder confronted the man, who told them he also was an archaeologist and that he had permission from the property owners to dig there. But his story unraveled quickly. Not only did the man, who hastily packed up and left after being confronted, not have permission from the owners, but also he lacked a required state permit to excavate or dig for artifacts. By the end of the day, the city had ordered all work to stop at the site and had hired its own contractor to put up a protective fence overnight. Ken Ames, chairman of Portland State University's anthropology department and former president of the Society for American Archaeology, called the apparent looting "a clear violation of the law," and said this is what happens with haphazard regulation of the city's historical sites. "We've been trying to move the city to deal with these resources in a better way," Ames said. "Not to blame anyone, but what we need is a process to manage these kind of historical sites." Contacted late Thursday, one of the property's owners said there's no way he would have granted permission to dig on the lot. "Some guy called me two weeks ago and told me he collected old bottles and wanted to dig in there, but I told him no," said Daniel Cossette. "I told him if he fell and hurt himself I'd have to pay." Cossette and his wife own half the property and another couple owns the other half. The lot is on the market for $3 million. Schneyder said the digger at the lot left behind glass bottles and other items that were from the turn of the century, but left with items she estimated to be of Chinese origin from the 1870s to 1890s, including what Mullaley identified as a brown stoneware soy sauce vessel. Schneyder could tell by the brick lining of the pit that it was probably the remnants of old sewer pit, that was later filled with trash. "That's a chamber pot," she said, pointing at a shard of pottery partially buried near the lip of the pit, "and that's the top of a pot." Schneyder said the deeper you go, the older the items are likely to be. "This is the kind of site that can tell us a lot about the period," she said. "I think there is still a lot of stuff left in there." For more than four hours after confronting the man, the two women stood guard over the open pit -- which is about 3 feet deep and 10 feet across -- to make sure no more artifacts, which were literally spilling out of the ground, were removed. They also called police, Portland city officials and the State Historic Preservation Office in Salem. State officials confirmed no permit had been issued to excavate the site. City Commissioner Randy Leonard's office told the contractor and the owner of the property to stop work at the site immediately, said Aaron Johnson, who's handling the case in Leonard's office. Johnson said his office had issued a demolition permit for the site, not knowing anything about archaeological artifacts there. State archeologist Dennis Griffin said in an e-mail to Johnson that he had told the city's planning commission some time ago that artifacts were at risk at the site. But the planning commission is not in charge of revoking demolition permits. Griffin told Johnson in that same e-mail that he had directed the contractor to stop digging, to no avail. "Most of our history is written by the winners, but sites like this tell a more democratic story," Mullaley said. "It's about saving our communal history."