Now, at the University of Southern Illinois
, the Center for Archaeological Investigations says the seizure of Navajo and Hopi
artifacts was funded by Peabody Coal. The university even brags about the seizure: We are currently working on a 5.5-year project to inventory and rehouse the Black Mesa Archaeological Project (BMAP) collections. BMAP is one of the largest, longest running projects in the history of North American archaeology
. Fieldwork spanned seventeen years, from 1967 to 1983, and at its peak employed more than 200 persons in a single summer. Nearly 2,500 archaeological
sites were identified, and more than 200 sites excavated, on the 256-square km of Black Mesa leased from the Hopi and Navajo by Peabody Energy. Fieldwork produced more than one million artifacts, which the CAI curates along with the field notes, maps, photographs, and other associated documents. Carried out in collaboration with the Hopi and Navajo and generously funded by Peabody Energy, this project will ensure that the BMAP collections are properly curated now and far into the future. http://cai.siu.edu/staffpages/lapham.html
– Center for Archaeological Investigations
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