A mysterious series of holes discovered at the site of an 18th century fort has led to the arrest of an overzealous artifact hunter, according to investigators in North Carolina.
The destruction happened July 27 on the grounds of Fort Dobbs State Historic Site, which housed soldiers during the French and Indian War. The 60-acre site is about a 45-mile drive north of Charlotte in Iredell County.
“Staff members told deputies that when they arrived to open the site they discovered several freshly dug holes,” the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said in an Aug. 22 news release.
“Security cameras captured footage of a young, white male using a headlamp and a metal detector to search the area.”
A month-long investigation led detectives to a 30-year-old man in Mooresville, about 20 miles south of the fort, officials said.
“(The man) confessed to trespassing on the historic site and using his metal detector to unearth several items that had been buried since the fort’s establishment,” officials said.
“He also admitted to being on the property in 2021 and removing artifacts at that time.”
Detectives recovered “several” artifacts believed to be from the fort, including musket ball ammunition, part of a shoe buckle and buttons, officials said.
The suspect was arrested on five counts of felony theft or destruction of property at a public museum, and three counts of misdemeanor first-degree trespass, officials said. Bond was set at $5,000, officials said.
The N.C. Archaeological Resources Protection Act prohibits the excavation or removal of artifacts from state lands.
The holes were dug at the center of the park, near a reconstructed three-story block house that served as the fort’s only structure.
Details of the what the suspect was searching for were not revealed, but the digging was in an area where about 50 soldiers conducted their daily routines, experts say.
Artifacts in such an area would range from lost coins to bits of broken military equipment and camp site materials.
Construction of the original fort began 1755 and it withstood attacks from the Cherokee in 1760, the state reports. It was abandoned in 1766 when troops moved to a settlement farther west, historians say.
The French and Indian War lasted from 1754 to 1763 and “was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France,” according to the U.S. Department of State.
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