A Mississippi man pleaded guilty to excavating artifacts from a federally protected site
A Richton man admitted in federal court he used a tractor to unearth historical artifacts at protected sites in and around Wayne County.
Forty-two-year-old Amos Justin Burnham pleaded guilty Thursday at the William M. Colmer Federal Courthouse before U.S. District Senior Judge Keith Starrett.
Burnham was indicted on eight charges — four each on unauthorized excavation of archaeological resources and injury or depredation to U. S. government property.
He pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful excavation of an archeological site, U.S. Attorney Darren J. LaMarca and U.S. Forest Service Forest Supervisor Shannon Kelardy said in a news release.
Burnham admitted to using a tractor to illegally excavate a protected archeological site within the DeSoto National Forest. The site is protected because it contains material remains of past human activities that are of archeological interest.
Burnham will be sentenced Oct. 4. He faces up to two years in prison, a $20,000 fine and the cost of repair to and restoration to the site.
The government in the indictment said Burnham went to the site numerous times between June 2019 and September 2020 and "knowingly and unlawfully excavated, removed, damaged, and otherwise altered and defaced archeological resources, specifically, Archeological Site 22Wal 125, also called the 'Toodleoo Site' located on designated historic and public lands known as the Chickasawhay Ranger District."
The government is seeking the return of the artifacts Burnham removed from the site as well as the forfeiture of a Massey Ferguson tractor with a rear box scraper.
If the government had taken the case to trial, Burnham could have faced more than 48 years in prison if convicted of all eight counts in the indictment.
"When archeological sites are destroyed by unlawful excavations and artifacts are stolen, we lose important clues about the past, forever," LaMarca said. "The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District and its law enforcement partners are dedicated to protecting archeological sites throughout the Southern District of Mississippi."
Federal officials said the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 governs the excavation of archaeological sites on federal and Indian lands and the removal and disposition of archaeological collections from those sites.
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This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Mississippi man pleads guilty to illegally excavating artifacts
