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It took a hunter's eye to spot those little blue beads in a sand dune near Fillmore, and an empathetic man to take the beads and bits of bone to the Millard County sheriff.
That man's decision after finding a grave a decade ago launched an investigation into an infant's cultural identity that culminated in May with the repatriation of the remains with the Southern Paiutes.
What a contrast, then, to the rapacious artifact looters of San Juan County, who traded or sold beads and bone and sandals, then reacted with shock and denial when federal agents raided their tight-knit operation in June.
The hunter cared that time had exposed the beads, and tiny bones, that would be found to be a child, a willow mat and the cup and plate that someone, probably its father and mother, left to help its spirit move on. The pot looters cared for nothing but profit.
Alerted by Millard County, archaeologists with the Utah State History's Antiquities Section had hoped to leave the child's remains as they were, but erosion and grazing cattle threatened to destroy what was left. So they collected the skeleton -- buried on its back, head positioned toward the southeast -- and began their investigation.
The beads were produced in Venice, Italy, sometime between 1851 and 1869, and were known to have been used in African slave trading. The cup and plate were likely made of tin in the mid-1800s.
And in the waves of westward immigration, it
Apologists will say that settlers and their descendants considered the relics theirs for the taking, that it was only human nature to collect pots and arrowheads and desiccated leather goods for home decoration or personal gain.
But what about state and federal laws that protect such antiquities? And the fact that a lot of people have been busted for such crimes?
The first guilty pleas in the case were entered Monday in federal court by Jeanne Redd -- whose husband, James Redd, committed suicide after being indicted -- and her daughter, Jericca Redd. Both admitted to stealing and selling artifacts taken from BLM land and the Navajo reservation, respectively.
It wasn't the first time for Jeanne Redd. She and her husband were charged with robbing an Indian grave in 1996, and seven years later paid $10,000 to settle a $250,000 lawsuit filed by the state. Charges against James Redd were dropped; Jeanne Redd pleaded no contest to a reduced charge.
So what is it? Greed? Arrogance? Addiction to the thrill of the find, and an extra jolt when the money comes in?
According to the charges filed in June, three men, one of them a federal undercover operative, dug into an ancient Puebloan mound on public land in San Juan County last September, only to see a skull pop out.
Defendant Vern Crites, according to court documents, said he "wished that fella had still been intact, the skeleton, I mean."
Ten years ago, the hunter knew there was something to be saved.
It turned out to be glass beads, a cup, plate and pieces of metal that covered the tiny body to protect it from animals. Someone had borne and loved and grieved for that child.
And that's the difference between humanity and thoughtless greed.
Today we say goodbye to former Tribune political reporter and our columnist for the past two years Rebecca Walsh. At the same time, we welcome a new columnist, veteran Utah journalist Peg McEntee.
