THE CRISIS IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTI ON C. W. Clewlow Jr. Allen G. Pastron Patrick S. Hallinan In recent times, it has come to the public attention that a situation of crisis exists with respect to the wholesale ripping off and destruction of archaeological sites and illegal sale of lovely artifacts in- foreign lands. Nearly all major newspapers, news magazines, and popular art or literary journals have carried feature stories on the problem. Numerous articles have also appeared in scholarly journals (cf. Coggins 1970a; 1970b: 1972; Williams 1972a; 1972b; Bruhns 1972; Adams 1970; Beals 1971), and major societies have passed strong resolutions on the problem (see Archaeology 1971; American Antiquity 1971). Because of the more sensational and spectacular nature of the international situation, similar problems within the United States are either unknown to, or neglected by the general public and a large portion of the anthropological profession. Yet the fact remains that archaeological sites are being destroyed, and artifacts stolen, at such an increasing rate within the United States that field work may be halted within ten years due to a lack of remaining sites (cf. Davis 1971; 1972; Clewlow, Hallinan and Ambro 1971; Ford, PRolingson and Medford 1972). Additionally, American archaeology, which has traditionally remained apolitical and aloof from contact with 1 the general public and Native Americans, is now having to pay its back dues in the context of deteriorated relationships with both groups (for example, Johnson 1971; Moratto 1970). It is a standing disgrace to the profession as well as an index to the gravity of the problem that archaeology has failed to recruit one Native American or Black American as a practitioner. These issues, in addition to large job shortages and funding cut-backs, have indeed created a profound crisis in American archaeology. In the Spring of 1972, the editors organized two symposia to better inform ourselves of various aspects of the crisis. One of these, `Politics and Archaeology" was held at the SWAA and SCA meetings at Long Beach in April. The other, 'Perspectives on the Crisis in Nlorth American Archaeology", was held at the KAS meeting in Berkeley in May. Both symposia met with considerable response and enthusiastic follow-up. Thus we decided that it would serve a genuine purpose to publish as many of the original papers as we could. We also solicited several papers to make this published volume more complete. A total of 11 papers in all were decided upon. These included one on the legal aspects of archaeological site destruction (Hlallinan), the scope and magnitude of site destruction in America (Clewlow), the problems archaeology has caused with and for Native Americans (Pastron), a statewide `response?l to the crisis (King) , and a local ' response; to the crisis 2 (Moratto). The views of one Federal archaeologist (Miller) and one state archaeologist (Riddel-l) are also presented. In order to broaden our perspective, we solicited papers on aspects of the problem in South America (Bruhns), in Mexico (Contreras) and Great Britain (Rodden). We feel that these papers constitute the most comprehensive single volume yet compiled on the crisis in American archaeology. We have also included here an annotated bibliographv (Pastron) of North American Indian autobiographies. While it does not deal directly with the crisis, we feel that its publication will be a sevice to Native Americans and anthropologists, and that it is relevant to the archaeological dilemma in that it covers a period of time which is indeed a bridge between history and prehistory. References cited: Adams, R.McC. 1971 Illicit International Traffic in Antiquities. American Antiquity 36: 1: ii-iii. American Antiquity 1971 Resolution: Society Action Against Illicit Antiquities Traffic. Vol. 36:3, 253-254. Archaeology 1971 Resolution on the Plundering of Sites. Vol. 24: 2, 165. Beals, R.L. 1971 Traffic in Antiquities. American Antiquity 36: 3, 374-375. Bruhns, K.O0. 1972 Illicit Tomb Looting in Colombia. Archaeology 25: 2, 140-143. 3 Clewlow, C.W. Jr., Hallinan, P.S. and R.D. Ambro 1971 A Crisis in Archaeology. American Antiquity 36: 4: 472-473. Coggins, C. 1970a Illicit Traffic of Precolumbian Activities. Katunob 7: 2: 1-8. 1970b The Maya Scandal: how thieves strip sites of past cultures. Smithsonian 1: 7: 8-17. 1972 Archaeology and the Art Market. Science 175: 263-266. Davis, H. A. 1971 Is There a Future for the Past? Archaeology 24; 4; 300-306. 1972 The Crisis in American Archaeology. Science 175: 267-272. Ford, J.L., Roligson, M.A. and L.D. Medford 1972 Site Destruction due to Agricultural Practices in Southeast Arkansas and in Northeast Arkansas. Arkansas Archeological Survey, Publications on Archeology, Research Series, No. 3. Fayetteville. Johnson, E. 1971 Archeology and American Indian Protest: Minnesota 1971. Man in the Northeast: 2: 89-93. Rindge, New Hampshire. Moratto, M.J. 1970 Archaeology and Cross-Cultural Ethics in Coastal .Northwest California. R.E. Schenk Archives of -California Archaeology, Paper No. 28. Williams, S. 1972a Ripping Off the Past. Saturday Review, Sept. 30, pp. 44-53. 1972b Death and Destruction in the Name of Art. Peabody Museum. Harvard University. 4