A Perfect Pothunting Day - An Examination of Vandalism to the Cultural Resources of Canyon de Chelly National Monument

Summary

It has been postulated that one-third to one-half of all known archaeological sites in the US Southwest have been vandalized; however there are few accurate and complete datasets available to prove this assumption, or to determine exactly which factors encourage illicit activity. In fact, in 1987 the Government Accounting Office identified this lack of data as a major reason for not fully comprehending the archeological vandalism problem on public lands in the United States. For over 20 years, archaeologists at Canyon de Chelly National Monument in Arizona have been collecting detailed standardized data on archaeological site condition and the natural and human-caused agents of destruction that affect the Park’s cultural resources. This allowed a detailed statistical analysis of the site-specific factors which have been declared to encourage illicit activity such as illegal visitation, defacement, and "pothunting", and the development of a Site Vulnerability Assessment (SVA) which was utilized to produce an "At Risk" list of cultural resources to be targeted for protective measures. Regional and local factors thought to be influential were also considered.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage