Native American skull discovered
An avid Indian artifact hunter discovered a rare find on the banks of the 102 River just north of Barnard on August 19.
The item was an early American Indian skull stuck in a sandbar along the tributary.
The investigation was performed locally by the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Department, Nodaway County Coroner’s Office and the Missouri Highway Patrol DDCC.
Once the skull was unearthed, it was sent to Dr. Michael Finnegan, a forensics anthropologist at Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS.
Finnegan reported back to the Sheriff’s Department that it was a 35-45 year old man’s skull dating back to the 1800s.
He also said he would alert the Missouri State Historical Preservation Office, which is part of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, to this discovery. There has been no word yet on where the skull may be housed.
http://www.nodawaynews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=10642&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Tribe reburying remains of more than 300 people
Tribe reburying remains of more than 300 people
More than five years after state construction crews inadvertently unearthed human remains from a Native American site dating back 2,700 years, more than 300 remains are being reburied.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. —
More than five years after state construction crews inadvertently unearthed human remains from a Native American site dating back 2,700 years, more than 300 remains are being reburied.
Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe of Washington state's Olympic Peninsula began burial ceremonies Monday with singing and praying. A mass grave has been prepared as the resting place for the tribe's ancestors. Those remains had been kept in boxes.
"It's really hard to express our emotions at this point in time. We are still in mourning," Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles told The Seattle Times. "But it is good to see some of the smiles come back to our community members, knowing the heaviness is lifted off."
In 2003, the state Department of Transportation began construction on a waterfront property near here to build pontoons for a nearby bridge project. Tribe members had warned that a tribal site was nearby, but a state-hired archaeologist did not find anything. It only took a few days for construction workers to start digging out remains.
After spending about $70 million, the state halted construction in 2004 at the request of the tribe. The reburial grounds were returned by the state to the tribe in 2006.
Digs at the site have uncovered thousands of artifacts, like spindles made out of whale bone. Archaeologists say the Indian village is one of the largest and oldest in Washington.
Tribal leaders said the ground will remain a cemetery, and they hope a longhouse and museum will be built nearby.
Carmen Watson Charles, who worked with other tribal members pulling the bones from the path of construction, said that there's a lot of emotion coming from tribal members.
"Unity and respect for one another, that's what I hope is learned from this," Charles said.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008184200_apwatribalremains1stldwritethru.html
More than five years after state construction crews inadvertently unearthed human remains from a Native American site dating back 2,700 years, more than 300 remains are being reburied.
PORT ANGELES, Wash. —
More than five years after state construction crews inadvertently unearthed human remains from a Native American site dating back 2,700 years, more than 300 remains are being reburied.
Members of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe of Washington state's Olympic Peninsula began burial ceremonies Monday with singing and praying. A mass grave has been prepared as the resting place for the tribe's ancestors. Those remains had been kept in boxes.
"It's really hard to express our emotions at this point in time. We are still in mourning," Lower Elwha Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles told The Seattle Times. "But it is good to see some of the smiles come back to our community members, knowing the heaviness is lifted off."
In 2003, the state Department of Transportation began construction on a waterfront property near here to build pontoons for a nearby bridge project. Tribe members had warned that a tribal site was nearby, but a state-hired archaeologist did not find anything. It only took a few days for construction workers to start digging out remains.
After spending about $70 million, the state halted construction in 2004 at the request of the tribe. The reburial grounds were returned by the state to the tribe in 2006.
Digs at the site have uncovered thousands of artifacts, like spindles made out of whale bone. Archaeologists say the Indian village is one of the largest and oldest in Washington.
Tribal leaders said the ground will remain a cemetery, and they hope a longhouse and museum will be built nearby.
Carmen Watson Charles, who worked with other tribal members pulling the bones from the path of construction, said that there's a lot of emotion coming from tribal members.
"Unity and respect for one another, that's what I hope is learned from this," Charles said.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008184200_apwatribalremains1stldwritethru.html
Historic sites, parks face possible closure
Historic sites, parks face possible closure
Supporters are bracing for the state's budget woes to trickle down.
By Brandon Larrabee, The Times-Union
CARTERSVILLE - You could call it Kenneth Akins' dream job.
He was a child when he first came to the Etowah Indian Mounds, a state historic site in Northeast Georgia that features one mound 67 feet high, two smaller bumps in the ground and several other rises that indicate where other mounds were.
"I was excited when I came here as a kid," recalled Akins, now the manager of the site. "Turned me on to this place, turned me on to history."
He knew what he wanted to do with his life.
"I was so fascinated with this place, and I told my dad, 'I want to work here.' "
Akins studied history in college and got a job with the state park system in 1981. For 23 years, he moved from site to site. He was working at Fort King George in Darien, helping that park survive the threat of closing, when Akins finally got the position he always wanted.
Now, four years into a drive to spruce up the site and give visitors more of a sense of how the Muscogee Creek who roamed the area 500 years ago lived, Akins is cutting back. Savings in water-use are helping Etowah weather budget cuts. Grass is being cut less often.
And there is the returning prospect that the state's deepening fiscal crisis could force the Department of Natural Resources to close as many as six state parks and seven historic sites. That would be the latest blow, advocates say, in a six-year long financial struggle for sites such as Etowah.
"It comes after state park budgets have been cut every year since 2002," said Andy Fleming, executive director of Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. "We feel that, right now, the parks could really suffer if we have any additional cuts."
The Department of Natural Resources argues that, while it would hate to make the cuts, it has little choice. Nearly $25.1 million of its $115.8 million budget is wrapped up in parks, and Gov. Sonny Perdue has asked each agency for plans to slice spending by as much as 10 percent to deal with a shortfall that could surpass $2 billion.
On the mounds
Akins' work includes trying to raise awareness of what the mounds are and aren't, educating the public about life in the 54-acre city that was home to the Muscogee Creek from around A.D. 1000 until shortly after Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto's visit in 1540.
For example: Only one of the mounds, known as Mound C, was used for burial. Mound A, the site's tallest and one of the highest in the Southeast, was where the chief of the area would live. When each chief died, his house would be burned, and the new chief would want the mound raised a bit to show that he had a higher status than his predecessor.
The shorter Mound B was likely for an assistant to the chief, and the other mounds - long since eroded - probably served as the homes of other prominent people in the city's life, though none as prominent as those who lived on the higher mounds.
Akins has moved to increase the educational thrust of the park since arriving in 2004.
He worked to establish the Friends of Etowah Indian Mounds, which holds fundraisers and other events at the park. He increased signage, solicited donations to build a house resembling those the Muscogee would have lived in, and recommended projects to the Friends group such as a small nursery of grasses and wildflowers native to the area. The hope is to get rid of the non-native, common grass now in the area so, in a decade or so, visitors will have a truer picture of what Etowah looked like centuries ago.
Finding the funds
According to the Department of Natural Resources, about 29,091 people attended Etowah in fiscal year 2007-08. That would make the park one of the least visited in the system, even as the state says visitation will be one of several factors used to decide which parks to close.
Other components of figuring out which places to shutter could cut in Etowah's favor - including its cultural and historic significance.
"I don't feel that there's any reason that they'll cut this park and close it," said Patty Wallenburg, president of Friends of Etowah Indian Mounds.
What that means for other lightly visited locations, such as the Robert Toombs House in Washington or Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation in Brunswick, is unclear.
The department stresses that no final decisions have been made, and Perdue or the General Assembly could decide to spare the parks by cutting elsewhere.
"We really have to wait to see the dollars that we have to find and then we can chart our course of action from there," department spokeswoman Beth Brown said in an e-mail. "And, it may be that once we have 'the list,' we can work with local communities to find alternative ways to keep those facilities operating closer to normal ... which may modify what ends up on the final list."
Some supporters have pressed the state to instead increase the relatively modest park fees. But Fleming pointed out that, while that idea has merit, there also are pitfalls.
"You say that, and then you have to remember that, especially in a down economy, the inexpensive or affordable outdoor recreation opportunities become even more important," he said.
Meanwhile, those like Akins, who discovered his love of history through a boy's eyes peering at the mounds of Etowah, wait to see what will happen to Georgia's publicly owned spaces.
"I'm concerned, but I feel very positive," he said. "I think we're all concerned. Everybody's concerned. It would be a big blow to the state of Georgia."
brandon.larrabee@morris.com, (678) 977-3709
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLOSING PARKS?
A look at what selected parks spend, their profit or loss, the attendance and how much they cost per visitor. (Fiscal year 2007-08)
Park (Location) Expenses Profit/Loss Attendance Cost per visitor
Fort Yargo State Park (Winder) $716,879 -$231,340 500,449 $1.43
Hard Labor Creek Park (Rutlege) $665,803 $59,485 329,684 $2.02
Skidaway Island State Park (Savannah) $306,696 $125,388 190,386 $1.61
Laura S. Walker State Park (Waycross) $351,818 -$186,537 170,823 $2.06
Mistletoe State Park (Appling) $407,827 $45,696 143,996 $2.83
Ft. McAllister Historic Site (Richmond Hill) $399,339 -$66,278 125,980 $3.17
Crooked River State Park (St. Marys) $458,451 -$3,132 99,454 $4.61
Gordonia Altamaha State Park (Reidsville) $181,013 -$113,195 84,962 $2.13
Wormsloe State Historic Site (Savannah) $263,167 -$162,181 71,513 $3.68
Stephen C. Foster State Park (Fargo) $642,327 -$279,595 54,844 $11.71
Fort King George Historic Site (Darien) $187,857 -$128,059 39,530 $4.75
Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site $279,302 -$178,223 29,091 $9.60
Fort Morris Historic Site (Midway) $134,672 -$116,325 12,069 $11.16
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation (Brunwick) $228,745 -$157,476 10,730 $21.32
Reynolds Mansion (Darien) $616,385 -$128,022 8,957 $68.82
Robert Toombs House (Washington) $80,255 -$70,388 2,756 $29.12
Source: Department of Natural Resources
http://www.jacksonville.com:80/tu-online/stories/090708/geo_329359633.shtml
Supporters are bracing for the state's budget woes to trickle down.
By Brandon Larrabee, The Times-Union
CARTERSVILLE - You could call it Kenneth Akins' dream job.
He was a child when he first came to the Etowah Indian Mounds, a state historic site in Northeast Georgia that features one mound 67 feet high, two smaller bumps in the ground and several other rises that indicate where other mounds were.
"I was excited when I came here as a kid," recalled Akins, now the manager of the site. "Turned me on to this place, turned me on to history."
He knew what he wanted to do with his life.
"I was so fascinated with this place, and I told my dad, 'I want to work here.' "
Akins studied history in college and got a job with the state park system in 1981. For 23 years, he moved from site to site. He was working at Fort King George in Darien, helping that park survive the threat of closing, when Akins finally got the position he always wanted.
Now, four years into a drive to spruce up the site and give visitors more of a sense of how the Muscogee Creek who roamed the area 500 years ago lived, Akins is cutting back. Savings in water-use are helping Etowah weather budget cuts. Grass is being cut less often.
And there is the returning prospect that the state's deepening fiscal crisis could force the Department of Natural Resources to close as many as six state parks and seven historic sites. That would be the latest blow, advocates say, in a six-year long financial struggle for sites such as Etowah.
"It comes after state park budgets have been cut every year since 2002," said Andy Fleming, executive director of Friends of Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites. "We feel that, right now, the parks could really suffer if we have any additional cuts."
The Department of Natural Resources argues that, while it would hate to make the cuts, it has little choice. Nearly $25.1 million of its $115.8 million budget is wrapped up in parks, and Gov. Sonny Perdue has asked each agency for plans to slice spending by as much as 10 percent to deal with a shortfall that could surpass $2 billion.
On the mounds
Akins' work includes trying to raise awareness of what the mounds are and aren't, educating the public about life in the 54-acre city that was home to the Muscogee Creek from around A.D. 1000 until shortly after Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto's visit in 1540.
For example: Only one of the mounds, known as Mound C, was used for burial. Mound A, the site's tallest and one of the highest in the Southeast, was where the chief of the area would live. When each chief died, his house would be burned, and the new chief would want the mound raised a bit to show that he had a higher status than his predecessor.
The shorter Mound B was likely for an assistant to the chief, and the other mounds - long since eroded - probably served as the homes of other prominent people in the city's life, though none as prominent as those who lived on the higher mounds.
Akins has moved to increase the educational thrust of the park since arriving in 2004.
He worked to establish the Friends of Etowah Indian Mounds, which holds fundraisers and other events at the park. He increased signage, solicited donations to build a house resembling those the Muscogee would have lived in, and recommended projects to the Friends group such as a small nursery of grasses and wildflowers native to the area. The hope is to get rid of the non-native, common grass now in the area so, in a decade or so, visitors will have a truer picture of what Etowah looked like centuries ago.
Finding the funds
According to the Department of Natural Resources, about 29,091 people attended Etowah in fiscal year 2007-08. That would make the park one of the least visited in the system, even as the state says visitation will be one of several factors used to decide which parks to close.
Other components of figuring out which places to shutter could cut in Etowah's favor - including its cultural and historic significance.
"I don't feel that there's any reason that they'll cut this park and close it," said Patty Wallenburg, president of Friends of Etowah Indian Mounds.
What that means for other lightly visited locations, such as the Robert Toombs House in Washington or Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation in Brunswick, is unclear.
The department stresses that no final decisions have been made, and Perdue or the General Assembly could decide to spare the parks by cutting elsewhere.
"We really have to wait to see the dollars that we have to find and then we can chart our course of action from there," department spokeswoman Beth Brown said in an e-mail. "And, it may be that once we have 'the list,' we can work with local communities to find alternative ways to keep those facilities operating closer to normal ... which may modify what ends up on the final list."
Some supporters have pressed the state to instead increase the relatively modest park fees. But Fleming pointed out that, while that idea has merit, there also are pitfalls.
"You say that, and then you have to remember that, especially in a down economy, the inexpensive or affordable outdoor recreation opportunities become even more important," he said.
Meanwhile, those like Akins, who discovered his love of history through a boy's eyes peering at the mounds of Etowah, wait to see what will happen to Georgia's publicly owned spaces.
"I'm concerned, but I feel very positive," he said. "I think we're all concerned. Everybody's concerned. It would be a big blow to the state of Georgia."
brandon.larrabee@morris.com, (678) 977-3709
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CLOSING PARKS?
A look at what selected parks spend, their profit or loss, the attendance and how much they cost per visitor. (Fiscal year 2007-08)
Park (Location) Expenses Profit/Loss Attendance Cost per visitor
Fort Yargo State Park (Winder) $716,879 -$231,340 500,449 $1.43
Hard Labor Creek Park (Rutlege) $665,803 $59,485 329,684 $2.02
Skidaway Island State Park (Savannah) $306,696 $125,388 190,386 $1.61
Laura S. Walker State Park (Waycross) $351,818 -$186,537 170,823 $2.06
Mistletoe State Park (Appling) $407,827 $45,696 143,996 $2.83
Ft. McAllister Historic Site (Richmond Hill) $399,339 -$66,278 125,980 $3.17
Crooked River State Park (St. Marys) $458,451 -$3,132 99,454 $4.61
Gordonia Altamaha State Park (Reidsville) $181,013 -$113,195 84,962 $2.13
Wormsloe State Historic Site (Savannah) $263,167 -$162,181 71,513 $3.68
Stephen C. Foster State Park (Fargo) $642,327 -$279,595 54,844 $11.71
Fort King George Historic Site (Darien) $187,857 -$128,059 39,530 $4.75
Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site $279,302 -$178,223 29,091 $9.60
Fort Morris Historic Site (Midway) $134,672 -$116,325 12,069 $11.16
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation (Brunwick) $228,745 -$157,476 10,730 $21.32
Reynolds Mansion (Darien) $616,385 -$128,022 8,957 $68.82
Robert Toombs House (Washington) $80,255 -$70,388 2,756 $29.12
Source: Department of Natural Resources
http://www.jacksonville.com:80/tu-online/stories/090708/geo_329359633.shtml
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