For centuries, a site in central Virginia was capital of the Monacan Indian Nation. Today it’s owned by Fluvanna and Louisa Counties and officials plan to build a water pump there. They say the infrastructure is needed to provide water to residents and businesses in Zion Crossroads.
Now those plans could be derailed by allegations of misconduct lodged by a former employee of the archaeological firm that tested the site.
In a sworn statement, the employee Eric Mai alleges that the archeologist in charge of testing the site lied to state regulators and mischaracterized the “cultural richness of the area.”
“The archeological remains we found during testing… were among the most impressive I saw during my more than six years with (the firm),” Mai wrote of the site, called Rassawek.
In seven detailed pages, Mai lays out how the crew hired to do the sensitive archeological work was unqualified and untrained. He says his boss told him that she “avoids hiring people with master’s degrees because they ask for too much money.”
Read the entire article at WVTF.