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Nashville floods expose robbing of ancient graves
By Albert Bender
Nashville, Tennessee (NFIC) September 2010
Just coming to public attention is the long ongoing robbery of ancient Native American graves on the banks of the Cumberland River that courses through the middle of Nashville.
Floods during May have focused new attention on the looting because the rushing waters exposed many previously unknown remains. The grave robbing is being perpetrated at its worst in the Bells Bend section of the city according to local Native Americans, area residents and archaeologists. All have expressed outrage at the continued looting of ancient burial sites.
How disrespectful it is to continue looting the graves of Native people. Those who do this continue to rape the land and take from the dead said Melba Checote-Eads, a member of the Oklahoma Muscogee Creek Nation, now living in Middle, Tennessee.
Although the Nashville media in late August first began running stories on the grave looting , some Nashville residents maintain that the unlawful practice has been taking place in the same locale for decades. There are reportedly fifteen and twenty foot deep craters along the riverbanks going back as far as the 19th Century.
We have known for years this looting has been going on, in fact some of the area looks the craters of the moon, it seems like this has been going on forever said Mark Tolley, Chairperson of the Tennessee Ancient Sites Conservancy, a Nashville based organization dedicated to the preservation of ancient Native American sites. He continued But, the real digging goes on back in the trees away from the riverbank and aerial reconnaissance is needed to see all of it. We need to get video cameras on the sites.
Reportedly, a great deal of the looting takes place in the middle of the night. The looters are in violation of Tennessee law which makes it a felony to desecrate any grave, recent or ancient.
The May floods by washing away parts of the riverbanks exposed skeletal remains and provided increased opportunities for grave robbers to easily locate previously unknown gravesites. It is believed there are several groups looting ancient gravesites on a full time basis on the Cumberland River. For many longtime residents, it is believed that generations of the same families have been robbing ancient graves stretching back to the mid-19th Century.
Nashville and its environs have a rich ancient American Indian heritage. A thousand years ago Middle Tennessee, according to historians, had the largest Native American population in the Southeast. It is estimated that the Nashville region was home to over one million Native people at one time. The burials that are being desecrated go back even further; some as far back as 14,000 years.
The looters are searching for artifacts such as pottery, spear points, arrowheads, knives and stone axes. These artifacts are purchased by private collectors, antique dealers and online auction houses. Many such artifacts have been known to end up for sale in the international market and grave robbers have reportedly even sold skeletal remains.
Nashville, Tennessee (NFIC) September 2010
Just coming to public attention is the long ongoing robbery of ancient Native American graves on the banks of the Cumberland River that courses through the middle of Nashville.
Floods during May have focused new attention on the looting because the rushing waters exposed many previously unknown remains. The grave robbing is being perpetrated at its worst in the Bells Bend section of the city according to local Native Americans, area residents and archaeologists. All have expressed outrage at the continued looting of ancient burial sites.
How disrespectful it is to continue looting the graves of Native people. Those who do this continue to rape the land and take from the dead said Melba Checote-Eads, a member of the Oklahoma Muscogee Creek Nation, now living in Middle, Tennessee.
Although the Nashville media in late August first began running stories on the grave looting , some Nashville residents maintain that the unlawful practice has been taking place in the same locale for decades. There are reportedly fifteen and twenty foot deep craters along the riverbanks going back as far as the 19th Century.
We have known for years this looting has been going on, in fact some of the area looks the craters of the moon, it seems like this has been going on forever said Mark Tolley, Chairperson of the Tennessee Ancient Sites Conservancy, a Nashville based organization dedicated to the preservation of ancient Native American sites. He continued But, the real digging goes on back in the trees away from the riverbank and aerial reconnaissance is needed to see all of it. We need to get video cameras on the sites.
Reportedly, a great deal of the looting takes place in the middle of the night. The looters are in violation of Tennessee law which makes it a felony to desecrate any grave, recent or ancient.
The May floods by washing away parts of the riverbanks exposed skeletal remains and provided increased opportunities for grave robbers to easily locate previously unknown gravesites. It is believed there are several groups looting ancient gravesites on a full time basis on the Cumberland River. For many longtime residents, it is believed that generations of the same families have been robbing ancient graves stretching back to the mid-19th Century.
Nashville and its environs have a rich ancient American Indian heritage. A thousand years ago Middle Tennessee, according to historians, had the largest Native American population in the Southeast. It is estimated that the Nashville region was home to over one million Native people at one time. The burials that are being desecrated go back even further; some as far back as 14,000 years.
The looters are searching for artifacts such as pottery, spear points, arrowheads, knives and stone axes. These artifacts are purchased by private collectors, antique dealers and online auction houses. Many such artifacts have been known to end up for sale in the international market and grave robbers have reportedly even sold skeletal remains.