The Bourne Ultimatum

Local doc charged with looting artifacts from public lands.

Mammoth anesthesiologist, Jonathon Bourne has pleaded not guilty to 21 felony counts that include alleged looting, possession and transportation of Native American artifacts.

Bourne was arraigned in US Federal Court, Eastern District of California in Fresno on Oct. 5.

If found guilty, Bourne faces a maximum of 98 years in prison and a $2 million fine, according to a press release from US District Attorney, Benjamin Wagner.

Released on his own recognizance following his plea, Bourne is scheduled to appear for a status conference on Dec. 7.

“This indictment shows that the prohibited acts including the unauthorized damage, alteration, excavation, and removal of archaeological resources on federally managed public lands is a serious matter,” U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Special Agent Mike Grate stated in the press release.

There is one count for possession of artifacts and the other 20 counts in the indictment are for transport and removal of artifacts. Most of the counts describe a specific historic site that was altered or damaged by Bourne to retrieve an artifact.

There are no charges for sale or intent of sale of the artifacts.

Federal Agents searched Bourne’s Mammoth residence in December 2014 and found more than 30,000 artifacts including points, pendants and mortars, or metates, along with detailed logbooks describing his many digs. The search warrant for Bourne’s residence specifically cites the log books that may contain the names of people Bourne was with on his expeditions, according to an anonymous source involved in the investigation.

The year-long investigation started when photos of Bourne excavating a stick from a melting glacier appeared on a hiker website, summitpost.org. The stick was later determined to be an ancient bow stave.

The stave was found during a Sierra Peak Challenge event. The post with the photo dated Sept. 4, 2014 by Bob Burd, the leader of the Sierra Peak Challenge says that while descending from the Glacier Divide west of Bishop, the hikers came across a stick in the ice. “On the way back down, while traveling over a few patches of old glacier ice, we were talking about finding the next Ice Man. Then, to our amazement, Jonathan discovered a Native American bow sticking out of the ice. The wood was hard and in good condition. The notches for the bowstring were clearly evident at the end. He spent some time trying to extract and was still at it while I continued on.”

Burd is asked in a later post what became of the bow and he responded that it was eventually extracted, “There were no other items found in the area despite a thorough search. Where the bow will eventually end up, that I don’t know.”

Burd told The Sheet that he hopes an arrangment can be made and Bourne doesn’t have to go to jail. Burd added he was not being investigated.

The case against Bourne goes back to activities in 2010-11 when he allegedly transported artifacts such as beads and pendants obtained from a tribal burial site in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in Nevada to California. Charges also stem from alleged excavation of artifacts in 2010, 2011 and 2014 from Death Valley National Park, Inyo National Forest and Sierra National Forest.

The Bishop Paiute Tribe, the Inyo National Forest, the Forest Service and the Department of Justice had no comment on the ongoing investigation.

Greg Haverstock with the Bishop BLM and lead archaeologist for the investigation said that local Tribes were pleased someone was taking the matter seriously. He said that from the tribal perspective, for someone, especially a non-Native, to steal artifacts from the landscape is to further break the connection the native people have with the land. The rift between man and the land that has been perpetuated and growing since the arrival of Europeans to America.

The idea of leaving valuables or heirlooms on open ground is a strange concept to foreigners, meaning everyone but Native Americans, Haverstock explained. But for Native Americans the artifacts can tell stories, they can define tribal boundaries and they are a piece of history that connects them to their past and the land.

Bourne has been an independent contractor at Mammoth Hospital for more than 30 years and will continue to work there “indefinitely” or until he is unable to, hospital CEO Gary Meyers said in an email to The Sheet.

Any local would be lying if they said they haven’t collected a piece of the wilderness or artifact from the backcountry that surrounds us, but it raises the question, “What is legal to take from public lands?”

Haverstock makes it pretty clear in his response that nothing is legal to remove from public or private property that is not owned by the individual or without permission by the land owner or manager. There is a clause in the Archaeological Resources Protection Act for the surface collecting of arrow heads. It states that a person will not be subject to the penalties under the ARPA for such collecting. But the collecting is still in violation of US Penal Codes 641 and 1361, he explained.

The other question is why do some people go from collectors to hoarders. The Forest Service said it would not comment on “motivating factors” given the ongoing nature of the investigation. Haverstock said he could not comment on what motivated Bourne, an athletic, affluent and well respected physician in the community, to do what he did. But he said it reads like a Greek tragedy with hubris being the downfall for the protagonist.