A Midwestern preservationist who works in this country to protect historic burial sites, including Native American mounds, e-mailed an interesting response to CultureGrrl‘s Private Prehistory piece (about prehistoric caves on private property in France), which I posted yesterday:
Your blog regarding landowners who keep the location of archeological sites “under wraps” hits home, since I know there are many sites that should be protected but are under- or not reported [in the U.S.].
Getting people excited about what we call “historic preservation” in the States has always been a hard sell. It’s not a problem in Europe, where people actually live and work in old structures.
My correspondent declined to be identified for publication, so has not to jeopardize relations with private landowners.