Ask Governor Crist and our Legislators if they really want the state to prosecute Florida Citizens and Tourists for recovering and preserving Isolated Finds? It's time to end the institutional abuse! It's also time to call for a Sunshine Review of the Florida Historical Commission and the Division of Historical Resources . . .
The Avocational Archaeology and Paleontology Council, Inc. (AAPC) was formed by 153 Isolated Finds Policy participants for the purpose of representing stakeholders interested in the development and administration of fair and balanced public preservation laws and policies. Specifically, the AAPC supports reinstatement of the Isolated Finds Policy, which provided a method for the general public to recover and report isolated cultural objects encountered while recreational diving in Florida Rivers. (F.S. 267.115(9))
State Parks, National Parks and designated archaeological management areas are specifically set aside for comprehensive preservation management by the state. However, the Division of Historical Resources has now declared eminent domain over all public submerged lands by abolishing the Isolated Finds Policy to “protect” what, until recently, were considered by the Bureau of Archaeological Research as non-contextual cultural objects. This is disproportionate with any practical preservation goal and poor public policy.
Florida Statute 267 (Historical Resources) has been so flagrantly corrupted from its original intent to serve the public interest that it now serves only a select group of state bureaucrats and networked academic institutions and their related special interest organizations. In fact, it is so over-reaching as to place all of Florida citizens and visiting tourists in jeopardy of unknowingly committing criminal acts. Any man, woman or child who now disturbs or removes an arrowhead or broken pottery fragment lying on the surface of a river bank or river bottom is subject to arrest and prosecution.
It has never been, nor ever will be, the AAPC's desire to legitimize the destruction of essential cultural resources. On the contrary, we seek a codified program specific to non-restricted submerged river bottoms that will allow permitted participants to recover, curate, report and house non-essential isolated artifacts that would otherwise be in danger of being lost or destroyed by urbanization and neglect.
A permitted program offers avocational and professional scholars the opportunity to employ the collected data in their research efforts; and it nurtures the public's interest and participation in Florida history and the arts. The original authors of the Isolated Finds Policy (BAR Isolated Finds Policy Brochure) recognized that cultural objects deposited in detached sediments of eligible river systems have been displaced from their original context and have unreliable stratigraphy. Regulated recovery and recording of these objects is a positive method of preserving them and promoting the involved public's educational interest in our state's cultural heritage. As the Isolated Finds Policy's authors stated, "it is a valuable scientific data gathering process." More simply stated; it saves the perishable artwork from further destruction.
By rubber-stamping the Florida Historical Commission's (FHC) recommendation to abolish the Isolated Finds Policy and by callously refusing to consider a codified program, the Division of Historical Resources is robbing the public and the academic community of the scientific data that the IFP generated. It is also preventing the regulated preservation of at-risk cultural objects in cooperation with the state by responsible participants. Yet, the state routinely issues contracts for dredging operations to remove sediments that contain cultural objects, such as the Florida Wildlife Commission's Battle Bend Project (FWC Document 00021) recently completed on the Apalachicola River. That project alone removed an estimated 64,000 cubic yards of sediments which were transported by barge and then trucked 23 miles to be used as fill dirt. This project was sanctioned by the Division of Historical Resources in spite of the fact that the Apalachicola River is well known among professional and avocational researchers as being rich in cultural objects due to its continuous subjection to high energy, erosive flooding events.
The FHC's stated justification for IFP abolishment was poor reporting by the participants. In fact, a public records request made by the AAPC reveals that 1,054 Isolated Finds Reports were filed during the policy's active period by 153 participants, several of which were professional archaeologists. Those reports collectively added data to the archaeological record on 10,135 cultural items and, of course, allowed them to be privately preserved and curated for future enjoyment and study. Not a single IFP reported artifact was considered essential by the Bureau over the 9 year period it was active. Therefore ownership of the recovered objects was officially transferred to the individuals who reported them.
Do not be misled by the Division of Historical Resources, the appointed Florida Historical Commissioners and lobbyists who will try to convince you that every child who pockets a broken piece of pottery or stone arrowhead has robbed the people of Florida of a valuable archaeological resource. They will pontificate about how their academic institutions and professional colleagues are the only persons qualified to recover even nonessential isolated cultural artifacts while reaching out to you for additional funding for their own special preservation projects; too many of which have the appearance of non-essential, pork-laden enterprises.
AAPC urges Florida's Governor and the Legislature to look beyond the marketing hype and ask the Florida Historical Commissioners:
We assure you that, once the citizens of Florida are made aware of these special interest issues, they will demand answers from their Governor and Legislators as to why tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are being applied to nonessential preservation projects every year when funding solutions need to be found for essential issues such as the state's ongoing insurance crisis, skyrocketing prescription medicine costs and affordable healthcare.
Please give careful consideration to the critical funding issues that face our citizens and
Chapter 267.061 provides that the state will foster conditions, using measures that include financial and technical assistance for a harmonious coexistence of society and state historic resources. We implore you to invoke these principals and remove the overly harsh regulations that threaten decent citizens and tourists with prosecution. A properly designed and administrated Isolated Finds Program can be a shinning example of such a harmonious coexistence. However, reasonable and fair public policy decisions are not possible when the bureaucratic leadership acts in concert with an appointed advisory commission that is institutionally opposed to public possession of cultural objects they claim sole entitlement of regardless of where they are found and whether or not they are considered essential or contextual cultural objects.
By example, Ms. Sarah Miller, Director of the state's newly establish NE Center of the Florida Public Archaeology Network sponsored a gathering the FPAN Center designated as “Artifact Amnesty Day” at Camp Milton, a site on Jacksonville's west side that just became a historic preserve in September of 2006. Prior to that, it had been a favorite spot for hobbyists to search for and recover items like Civil War-era bullets. When informed that the term “amnesty” offended legitimate hobbyists and presupposed that they had done something wrong, Miller reportedly stated that “Archaeologists say it's ethically wrong (to take artifacts) any time on any land.” (Danube, L 2004)
Her statement is a vivid example of how out of touch certain state officials are with the majority of the public. There certainly exists a rationale for applying comprehensive preservation standards to State and National Parks and to specially designate archaeological sites; but to infer that their professional ethical standards should extend to every square inch of public land is utopian, and applying those same standards to private land is bordering on tyrannical.
A growing number of institutional archaeologists have adopted an entitlement philosophy that conflicts directly with the general public. Too many have left the ranks of the studious and public-friendly social scientists to become corporate competitors in a complex and highly commercialized preservation industry. That commercialization threatens the very core academic values of social science.
Too often the general public is threatened by overly officious public servants and bureaucrats who forget that “state owned” means public owned. Public lands are regulated common properties that should be shared reasonably by everyone, and most certainly by the taxpaying public. State agencies and institutional professionals who use public lands to pursue career advancing research projects or post graduate degrees need to be reminded that their use of public lands is also a privilege and not an exclusive entitlement.
Our message to the Governor and Legislature is that the current Division of Historical Resources leadership must learn more about building relationships rather than tearing them apart. The AAPC exists to stretch the boundaries of public archaeology, so that professionals and amateurs work cooperatively. This may be possible to achieve utilizing the Florida Public Archaeology Network offices now located throughout Florida. However, it will require meaningful discussions between all stakeholders, not just state bureaucrats and appointed advisory commission members who condemn public involvement while granting exclusive privileges to their own institutions and colleagues. Presently, FPAN's mission appears to be more about public indoctrination than public outreach.
Join us in asking Governor-Elect Crist to remove the threat of criminal prosecution to Florida citizens and tourists for recovering an isolated, non-essential, surface collected artifact from public lands that are not specifically set-aside for comprehensive preservation. Please instruct the DHR to reinstate the Isolated Finds Policy under s. 267.115 (9) until such time that a permitted program similar to the Florida Program of Vertebrate Paleontology Fossil Permit s.1004.576 can be developed.
AAPC and its constituents believe strongly that an immediate and thorough Sunshine Review of the Florida Historical Commission and the Division of Historical Resources is warranted, including related direct and citizen support organizations and any party contracted with the Department through memorandums of agreement.
Tom Pertierra, Director Avocational Archaeology and Paleontology Council
