By RICK HUGHES
Municipal Affairs Reporter
The Hamilton Spectator

Night-time raiders have been looting native artifacts from an archeological dig in the Red Hill Valley.
The looting has prompted the city to protect the site, located in the valley behind the Rosedale Arena, with a 2.4-meter fence toped by barbed wire.  The area is also patrolled around the clock by security guards.
City staff and ix Nations native leaders say they have no way of knowing what was taken by the looters, but believe some artifacts were found removed.
The looters were using the same technique applied by archeologists to shift dirt to find artifacts of value.
“Whoever was there was engaged in an act that would be chargeable under the Heritage Act,” said Chris Murray, the city’s manager of environmental planning.
“It’s readily apparent they had a sieve with them.  You can tell that the soil has been sifted.  It seemed pretty obvious that someone was there with a purpose.
”Police have been called in to investigate.  Leftover shards of pottery were the clearest evidence of fresh digging.
The native settlement site, dating from about 1300, was discovered during archeologist investigation required as part of the planning for the Red Hill Creek Expressway.
“What would attract a looter to that site?  Native material has a value on the open market,” Murray said.
The city is plans to eventually excavate the site.  Murray said doing so will take 12 to 16 weeks.
The fenced-in area is about the size of two football fields, side-by-side.  It is not directly in line of the proposed expressway,
but would need to be cleared for the stream relocation that is a major part of the project.
It was partially investigated in the late 1990’s, but work was put on hold when the Red Hill case ended up in the courts.  However, the site was used for classroom field trips in the past year when students were able to participate in archeological investigations.
The looting was discovered in mid-August.
Native leaders are already highly sensitive about the city’s  handling of native artifacts and remains in the valley and have
been in discussions with the city all summers over its digging this spring while the discussions were being held.
The city said it would erect the fence and provide security after Native leaders were advisable of the looting.
Security has been in place for a couple of weeks.  The fence was done last week.
David Heatley, a Quebec native who has been working with local six Nations natives on issues on Red Hill, said he spent
many nights there, before the fencing was in place, to prevent further looting.
“Most nights we ended up chasing people off,” Heatly said. 

You can contact Rick Hughes at rhughes@hamiltonspectator.com or at 905-526-3417.