Largest Antiquities Theft in History of the South to be Revealed at UA Museum Talk, Reception

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -The Alabama Museum of Natural History at The University of Alabama will host a free reception and talk on the unsolved artifact heist of nearly 270 Native American vessels, Tuesday, April 22, at 5 p.m. in room 205 Smith Hall, located on 6th Avenue of the UA campus.

Dr. Vernon James Knight, professor and chairperson of UA’s department of anthropology, will reveal details on the unsolved 1980 theft of more than 70 percent of the Museum’s exhibit-quality specimens in the collection of Indian artifacts housed at the collections repository at Moundville.

Excavated from Moundville in the 1930s, the stolen vessels, appraised 23 years ago at $1 million, are irreplaceable, according to Knight.

“A great many people are unaware of the magnitude of this theft and the gaping hole it has left in the prehistoric heritage of Alabama and the Southeast,” said Knight, also the Museum’s curator of southeastern archaeology. “This was the largest antiquities theft in the history of the South.”

No new leads have been produced since the FBI first investigated the case in the early ‘80s. Now, for the first time, a web site containing photographs of the missing artifacts is available at http://museums.ua.edu/oas/stolenartifacts/.

“Using Internet technology, we’re now able to inexpensively publish photographs of all 264 stolen objects, and distribute this information to many audiences at local, state, national, and international levels” Knight said. “This will greatly enhance the possibility that the stolen objects may be seen and reported.”

Knight said there is a growing trend of online auctions of older Native American artifact collections, both legal and illegitimate.

“In 23 years, not a single vessel of those stolen has turned up,” said Knight. “This leads to the hope that the stolen items were not dispersed and may still be together in a group, maybe even still in the area.”

The talk, followed by a reception, is free and open to the public. For more information, phone 205/348-7550 or e-mail natural.history@ua.edu.

Operating hours for UA’s Alabama Museum of Natural History are 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and 1-4:30 p.m. Sunday. UA’s Jones Archaeological Museum in Moundville, 13 miles south of Tuscaloosa, is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. Admission is charged.