Archaeological Looting Statistics

The Real Scope of the

Problem
The Significance of Cultural Resources

 Cultural resources are non-renewable.

 Every projectile point, pot sherd, musket ball,

belt buckle and other artifact that is taken or
destroyed is gone forever and can never be
replaced.
ARPA Reporting Requirements

 The Archaeological Resources Protection Act

(ARPA; 16 USC §470ee et seq.) requires the
Secretary of the Interior to obtain statistics
regarding cultural resource protection from
41 federal agencies.
 The Secretary must then submit a report to
Congress each year summarizing looting and
protection efforts.
Federal Lands in the U.S.

Almost 30% of the

United States is
federal or tribally
owned land.
Agency Data Studied
Land Management Acreage & Staffing

Agency Approximate Total Approximate Approximate Estimated Estimated Law

Acreage Number of Percentage of Total Number Enforcement per
Owned Documented Sites Land Surveyed of Sites Acre

BLM 264 million 228,000 5% 4-4.5 million 1/million acres

NPS 84 million 92,000 5% 500,000-1.5 1/56,000 acres

million

FWS 93 million 11,000 Less than 10% Tens of thousands 1/104,000 acres

FS 191 million 277,000 20% 1-1.5 million 1/million acres

Total 632 million 608,000 10% 5.5-8.5 million

Reporting an ARPA Incident

 In order for an archaeological looting or vandalism

incident to become a statistic that is forwarded to the
Secretary of the Interior, at least four things must
happen:
– The looting or vandalism must be discovered.
– The looting or vandalism must be documented.
– The agency sub-unit (such as the park, refuge, or forest)
must find the documentation on the looting and send it to
bureau management.
– The bureau must send the data to the Secretary of the
Interior.
National Looting Statistics

 An average of 791 ARPA violations are reported per year.

 On average, 14% are solved.
Prosecutions

 94% of solved cases are charged as misdemeanors

 6% are charged as felonies (7 cases per year on average).
Joshua Tree National Park

 JTNP is a 800,000 acre park in the Mojave

Desert of California.
 Roughly 4,000 recorded prehistoric and
historic archaeological sites.
 Estimated when fully surveyed to contain
perhaps as many as 20,000 sites.
Joshua Tree National Park Statistics

Reported Violations 1985-2009

JTNP ARPA Incidents

160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1985-2009
Joshua Tree National Park Statistics

 438 total incidents have been discovered in

the past 25 years.
 Excluding 1992 and 1993, an average of
10.2 looting incidents were documented per
year.
 By contrast, in 1992 and 1993, with full time
site monitoring, the average number of
documented incidents was 101 per year.
The Real Numbers?

 Using the Joshua Tree example and other

sources, it is estimated that only about 18%
of looting incidents are reflected in the
Secretary of the Interior’s statistics.
 That would mean there are actually roughly
4,600 looting incidents per year, or over 12
incidents per day on BLM, FWS, NPS and
USFS lands!