I'm not the only one: Professor Cashes in His Savings to Purchase Archaelogical Site

From the Houston Chronicle:

After trying to raise the money to buy an archaeological dig site north of Austin, a University of Texas professor cashed out his personal savings to purchase the land and then donated it to the Archaeological Conservancy.

The 33-acre Gault site in Southwestern Bell County was one of the major areas of activity for the Clovis people in North America and contains relics that are as many as 13,500 years old, said Michael Collins, associate researcher at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at UT's J.J. Pickle Research Campus.

In 2002, Collins said, the team uncovered artifacts that predate the Clovis.

"This one site could tell us more about the Clovis than we had learned and not learned from other sites up until then, and it also had evidence of people being there before the Clovis," he said. "Those two things combined make it of extraordinary scientific interest and importance."

The UT System leased the Gault site for university use from 1999 to 2002. After the lease was up, Collins led an effort to raise money to purchase the land but was unable to meet the owner's asking price.

So earlier this year, he said he decided to use his savings to purchase the land. He finished paying for the land last month.