Valuable Indian artifacts lure pottery hunters / `Thieves of time' scavenge deserts for illegal riches

From: Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph | Date: July 13, 1990| Author: Chicago Tribune; James Coates | Copyright information

HOVENWEEP NATIONAL MONUMENT, Utah - Atop the great inland desert known as the Colorado Plateau, a new breed of pot hunters roams the mesas and arroyos in search of lucrative bits of American Indian antiquity.

The ancient clay cups, bowls, plates and water jugs that the raiders take from archaeological sites not yet explored sell for $5,000 to $20,000 and more on the black markets of Los Angeles, Bonn, New York, Chicago and Tokyo.

W. Max Witkind, an archaeologist with the U....

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