[MSN] Puerto Rican archaeologists accuse U.S. Army Corps of taking artifacts without permission

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Puerto Rican archaeologists accuse U.S. Army Corps of taking artifacts
without permission 

The Associated Press 
Monday, October 29, 2007 
 
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: Puerto Rican archaeologists on Monday accused the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of illegally shipping two dozen newly
discovered pre-Columbian artifacts off the island without permission.

Diana Lopez, a University of Puerto Rico archaeologist, said the Army Corps
should be fined for sending ceramic pieces, stone tools and bones - which
may date from 600 A.D. to 1500 A.D. - to Atlanta for testing without
approval from a local archaeology council.

"They never told us that they were going to take those pieces," said Miguel
Rodriguez, a member of the council who claimed such tests could have been
done on the island.

Jose Rosado, chief of the corps' San Juan construction office, has promised
that engineers will return the pieces to Puerto Rico once tests determine
their origin and value. Calls and e-mails to his office went unanswered
Monday.

The artifacts were discovered earlier this month when an Army Corps team
began work on a dam project in southern Puerto Rico. Archaeologists said the
find could shed light on most aspects of Indian life in the region, from
sacred rituals to eating habits.


They called for a halt to the corps' heavy digging, which they warned could
expose the pre-Colombian site to wind and rain.

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