Abstract
BY a resolution of the State Legislature of Nebraska, police powers over sites of archaeological and palaeontological interest have been conferred on the State Geological Survey, which will enable that service to control the future collection of antiquities and fossil bones, for which the State is widely known as a favourable locality. Although the efforts of the National Research Council have done much to make widely known among the people of the United States the desirability of preserving intact their monuments of antiquity, up to the present only a few of the States have taken legislative action to protect them; and should the measures adopted in Nebraska prove effective, it is anticipated that other States will follow this example before long. As recent investigations have shown, Nebraska and the neighbouring States of the south-west are rich in relics of early man and of the extinct fauna with which, it would appear, early man was associated in this part of America; but this wealth of material has proved an irresistible attraction to the amateur collector and the curio hunter, with the result that much important scientific evidence has been lost or destroyed by the removal of specimens from their stratigraphical context without adequate record, or indeed, in many instances, with no record at all. Some indications of the extent of the loss that science has suffered in this way is afforded by the references to important archaeological specimens in private hands scattered throughout the records made by Prof. E. B. Renaud's archaeological surveys of Colorado and adjacent territories. It has been specifically stated on behalf of the Geological Survey that there is no intention to restrict duly accredited scientific research.
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Protection of Antiquities in Nebraska. Nature 137, 61 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137061b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137061b0