In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law the Antiquities Act of 1906 which gave presidents the power to create national monuments — a kind of second-tier national park—when federal land contains objects that are threatened by outside forces or which are especially deserving of emergency protection. in recognition of the enduring power and dignity emanating from the earliest societies on this continent.: According to a 2017 article in The Atlantic, the act was explicitly passed to shield sites of historical or indigenous importance from pot hunting, in which Americans would loot artifacts from archaeological sites or abandoned dwellings and then sell them on the illicit market. Bears Ears has been looted and vandalized over a number of decades.: