Being Responsible During Your Backpacking Hike
Enjoying a backpacking hike is a fun and exciting excursion. You can
add to the excitement by searching for artifacts and pieces of
history on your trail backpacking adventure. Depending on where you
plan your backpacking hike routes, you may encounter ancient burial
grounds, areas once used for hunting and survival, or even Native
American living areas where you can find pottery or other creations.
By keeping a keen eye on your surroundings, you might be able to
turn your backpack hiking trip into an educational and historical
adventure.
Before you pick up that interesting arrowhead or piece of bone as a
souvenir from your backpacking hike, take a moment to think about
what you're doing. Your find could be a very important part of a
much larger archeological discovery. Your trail backpacking could
have led you to an ancient burial ground. Or, the piece might be
nothing at all. Unless you're an archeologist, you have no way of
knowing.
The best advice is to take a picture and leave the object where it
is. By definition, the National Parks Service says that any object
over fifty years old is considered an artifact. Removing that object
from where you found it or from the park itself could cost you in
many ways. The Native American Graves and Repatriation Act (NAGRA)
has strict rules and regulations in place to protect Native American
artifacts. People backpacking, hiking or riding along recreational
trails are a threat to preserving artifacts and gravesites of
ancient cultures. While most people have good intentions, there are
people out there who poach these sites for profit. If caught as a
poacher, you could be faced with fines ranging from as little as
$250 to a thousand dollars or more.
So, what should you do when you are out trail backpacking and come
across an artifact? First of all, don't touch it! Leave the artifact
where it is and do your best not to disturb the surrounding area.
The placement of an artifact often carries clues to what it is and
how it was used. Archaeologists are painfully aware of this when
they come across a find of their own. Hundreds of photos and
drawings will be taken of the site before any kind of digging is
started.
The next thing to do is put up a discreet marker some distance away
from the find. You don't want to put a huge sign pointing towards
the artifact that might draw less scrupulous people who may be
looking for the same thing. After you have taken note of the
location, contact a park Ranger or someone in the local authorities
and let them know what you found. They will contact the proper
specialists to conduct the research and investigation of the area.
Proper guests leave a place the same way it was when they got there.
This rule is no different when you go on a backpacking hike. The
surrounding environment has a long history that you are only
visiting. As such, do not mess anything up or move anything from its
place. You never know when you could encounter a precious artifact
that will give researchers an entirely new perspective on the
specific area.
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