A Deming man has been sentenced to two years of probation for digging on federal land and removing several pieces of broken Mimbres pottery in southern New Mexico.
Federal prosecutors say 81-year-old Michael Quarrel must also pay more than $1,500 in restitution to cover the cost of damages to an archaeological resource.
While on probation, Quarrel will be banned from land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.
Quarrel pleaded guilty in January to violating the Archaeological Resource Protection Act in September 2013. He was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Las Cruces.
The act protects archaeological resources on public and Indian lands that are at least 100 years old. Prosecutors say the area Quarrel was excavating contained the remains of a prehistoric Mimbres Mogollon habitation site.
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