A federal judge has denied a request to dismiss 14 felony charges against a Utah man charged with 28 counts related to the theft and sale of artifacts from public and tribal lands. His public defender said that the man had been charged several times for the same alleged criminal conduct.

The Interior Department has proposed a new addition to the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act that would require culturally identifiable American Indian remains to be repatriated to the tribe from whose lands the remains were excavated or removed. Scientists plan to challenge the new regulation. “I think these regulations go far beyond the original intent of the law. I know a lot of people in Indian country are okay with that, but it does raise issues for me as a scientist,” said John O’Shea of the University of Michigan. Indian Country Today also offers opinions from members of modern American Indian communities.  

Scientists searching for wrecks carrying radioactive materials off the coast of Italy found a Roman galley carrying amphoras. They brought five of the intact pots to the surface.  

Here’s another article on the Roman-era tombs discovered in Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis. Be sure to view the slideshow. 

And there’s more information on the “proto-urban center” discovered and mapped in western Mexico by archaeologist Christopher Fisher of Colorado State University and his team. The site was home to the Purepecha, or Tarascans, who were enemies of the Aztecs. 

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artifacts have been unearthed at the Justice William Smith House, now part of the property of a fire station in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Volunteers who want to preserve the house say it was a meeting place for Americans during the first colonial uprisings.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, April 13, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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