from Western Colorado.

Craig likes to go hiking and exploring in the rough and rugged canyons

of the Southwest,

the ancient territory of the Anasazi.

But picture him just a few years ago,

standing in a reading room.

(Nowhere near the canyons)

Right, in front of a display of ancient pottery.

Inside the cabinet is a collection

of jars and bowls, that are probably 700-800 years old, and I,

and I recognize the design, and I know where they came from.

I know that they came from a part of Arizona

where I had just spent a month, backpacking.

And I found the place, just entirely looted.

and, and...

..I mean, folks had come in and removed everything they could find.

...I mean, folks had come in and removed everything they could find. CHRIS: Yeah, yeah.

Some archaeologists, but mostly pot hunters,

people illegally coming in and taking shovels, and digging out burial artifacts.

And these artifacts in this little cabinet were,

were all stolen.

They, they weren't cataloged,

and in fact they were very roughly handled.

Some had been broken and repaired with masking tape, but..

PERSON: With masking tape? CHRIS: And with glue.

PERSON: And Elmer's Glue! CHRIS: Yeah.

PERSON: And what did the sign say on the thing?

CHRIS: I think it just said these come from

CHRIS: Arizona, that was.. PERSON: So was that, uh..

CHRIS: [INAUDIBLE] percent of it. PERSON: ..just it?

CHRIS: Yeah.

PERSON: So, what did you think and then

what did you do?

CHRIS: Well, I had been very frustrated at

seeing this landscape that had been

completely looted and I thought, "you know what?

I need to take something back",

and so I, I broke into the display case.

when we do this at night or how did you how did you get by the security I just

did it when I kept an eye on the room and saw when nobody was in there and

were you dressed in black and hanging from the ceiling?

I was looking like I look now how do you did you get that glass cutter I cut

around the molding of the of the glass and removed the glass plate and reached

in and took one of the jars that have been actually split in half with a

shovel I am not a good thief I nearly pissed my pants in the middle of it and

then I rearranged all the jars and and blew on the dust so it would resettle

and look like nothing had ever changed and then and then I went down to the

Apache reservation the White Mountain Apache reservation in central Arizona

and walked for two weeks with this this on my back down through all these

canyons looking for the the right place to put it back. In one sense I was I was

pushing against the tide of all these artifacts that are coming out of the

millions and millions of objects that are disappearing from the land I was I

was putting one back in and just pushing against that but the same time I

immediately started questioning what I was doing because I thought oh you're

just doing what everybody else has done you're stealing it because you think you

know the right thing to do with it. where did you finally put it I climbed up this

is this cliff face where there was a little tiny cave alcove about the size

of a bread loaf just a little hole in a cliff and I and I slid the vessel into

it and set it back there where I I don't think people will find it for centuries

the moment at which you place it have been that little alcove you're there

your hand leaves the thing what are you thinking at that point I'm I'm thinking

if anybody else finds us they will see the masking tape and this will really

confound them

Thanks to Robert Krulwich and Jetta Boomrod from Radio Lab for helping out with this

piece. You're welcome. If you haven't yet heard the collection of Radio Lab

episodes this videos a companion to head over to radio lab org and look for the

things, skull, and kilogram episodes. There's also a short audio story I put

together while visiting the radio lab team in New York.