Artifact dealers, collectors reflect on raids

The nation's largest and longest-running Indian artifact show opened last year under a cloud of fear and uncertainty as a federal investigation into the sale of Native American artifacts intensified throughout the Four Corners region. Since then, suicide has claimed the government's informant and two defendants, the prehistoric Indian art market has bottomed out, some collectors' lives have been turned upside down and several federal indictments have resulted only in probation for some of those accused of plundering artifacts from federal lands. Now, artifact dealers and collectors attending the 32nd annual Whitehawk Antique Show in Santa Fe are sharing their concerns over how the government handled the case and the way authorities are interpreting federal laws designed to protect the nation's archaeological sites and cultural heritage. "We have suffered a stigma for so many years. I think it's time for people to stand up for their rights to collect and enjoy things that are old," Dace Hyatt, a restoration expert from Show Low, Ariz., told The Associated Press. Hyatt and other members of the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association organized a special panel discussion before the start of the show Monday to talk about the federal raids, informant Ted Gardiner and the laws that govern everything from arrowheads to centuries-old pots...more