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Stones Forum >> How scientists and Native Americans pulled off a major dig before the feds triple border fence
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How scientists and Native Americans pulled off a major dig before the feds triple border fence |
Andy B
Joined:
13-02-2001
Messages: 7001
from Surrey, UK
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|  Posted 19-03-2009 at 13:16
This interesting story would benefit from putting on a Site Page at some point:
Hush-hush archaeology
How scientists and Native Americans pulled off a major dig before the feds triple border fence destroyed everything
During the past year, archaeologists have been digging like mad to preserve one of the last remaining ancient Indian village sites in coastal Southern California, racing against the claw of the bulldozers and massive grind of the steam rollers to get the work done before the federal government erases in one year what had managed to survive for millennia.
And they did it in almost complete secrecy.
By April 2008, then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had waived 36 environmental and cultural laws that could otherwise block completion of a triple border fence. Congress granted him this authority in 2005, with the passage of the so-called REAL ID Act.
That amounted to an end run around the National Environmental Policy Act, Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, Indian Religious Freedom Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Archaeological Resources Protection Act and so on, down to the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act—laws protecting communities, farms, forests, watersheds, wildlife, antiquities, habitats, migration corridors and cultural resources.
In the interest of national security, the feds claimed eminent domain over state, county, and private lands along the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. That also nullified California’s laws, like the landmark California Environmental Quality Act, which makes disrupting ancient burials or antiquities a criminal act.
Defenders of Wildlife, Sierra Club, Save Our Heritage Organization, and other groups sued the federal government, arguing that the move was unconstitutional—and lost, meaning that the Army Corps of Engineers, which managed fence construction for Customs and Border Protection (CBP), could have obliterated at least two archaeological sites eligible for the U.S. National Register of Historic Places lying among three mesas around Border Field State Park.
But they didn’t, and no one knows about this act of grace—not to mention a nail-biting archaeological coup—because of the politicized nature and urgency of the fence project.
So, how did archaeologists snag a $3-million contract with an otherwise implacable post-9-11 defense machine?
Quietly. Behind the scenes. In secret. With the helpful hand of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other key players, none of whom was required to care.
More in San Diego Citybeat
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/hush_hush_archaeology/7880/
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bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1332
from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 23-03-2009 at 02:36
Quote:
| On 2009-03-19 13:16, Andy B wrote:
This interesting story would benefit from putting on a Site Page at some point... |
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California's Border Fields State Park, San Diego County, can be found at this location:
http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=32.534755&lon=-117.120455&z=17.3&r=0&src=yh.
The park website is here: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=664. Note the inset photo on the left, showing a view of Monument Mesa from the air over the ocean.
If you look at the park website's map page ( http://www.parks.ca.gov/lat_long_map/default.asp?lvl_id=304) and click on the terrain feature, you'll see that the border actually runs along high ground over looking the Tijuana River - a natural location for settlement.
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bat400
Joined:
10-04-2006
Messages: 1332
from South Central Indiana, US
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| Posted 23-03-2009 at 02:39
Also see a news story about another "salvage" dig associated with the new border fence. This one was in Arizona, along the San Pedro River.
http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146413599
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