American Indian cremation pit discovered on Georgia island
By Russ Bynum
Associated Press / December 21, 2008
SAVANNAH, Ga. - Exposed by erosion at the edge of a crumbling bluff, the pit discovered beneath 2 feet of sandy dirt at first appeared to be a grave just long and deep enough to bury a human body.
Excavation by archeologists on Ossabaw Island revealed something more puzzling: just a few small bones, apparently from fingers or toes, mixed with charcoal, bits of burned logs, and pottery shards predating the arrival of the first European explorers by at least a century.
The find has led researchers to suspect American Indians used the ancient pit to burn bodies of the dead, making it a rare example of cremation among the early native inhabitants of the southeastern United States.
"It's a special sort of burial," said Tom Gresham, an Athens archeologist who worked on the excavation and serves on Georgia's Council on American Indian Concerns. "The way Indian tribes over time buried their dead varied tremendously. But cremations are fairly rare."
Located 6 miles off the Savannah coast, Ossabaw Island remains one of Georgia's wildest barrier islands. Hogs, deer, armadillos, and Sicilian donkeys roam the state-owned island's 11,800 acres of wishbone-shaped uplands. Live oaks tower above the remains of slave plantations and ancient Indian burial mounds.
Researchers have found evidence that humans came to Ossabaw more than 4,000 years ago. It's believed Indians at first may have used the island as a winter camp to feed on shellfish before moving inland in the spring.
Burial mounds on Ossabaw typically hold intact human remains, said Dave Crass, Georgia's state archeologist. Archeologists said yesterday that carbon dating on charcoal from the pit place it between 1290 and 1420 AD.
Archeologists initially thought the pit could be 1,000 to 3,000 years old, based on pottery shards they found. Though carbon dating revealed it to be more recent, the find is still considered prehistoric because it predates the arrival of the first European explorers in Georgia in 1520.
Crass said other prehistoric graves on Ossabaw tend to be bodies buried intact, in a near fetal position, in shallow bowl-shaped pits. "What makes this particular site unusual is that the individual was apparently cremated and then the remains were presumably taken from this pit and interred somewhere else," Crass said.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/12/21/american_indian_cremation_pit_discovered_on_georgia_island/
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Feds focus on artifact trade
Feds focus on artifact trade
S.D. men charged in sale of historical Indian items
December 28, 2008
Josh Verges
jverges@argusleader.com
The federal indictments of three men accused of trafficking in Native American artifacts reveal a lucrative trade centered on the illegal harvesting of a culture's buried history.
U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley said the indictments - the first of their kind in his two and a half years on the job - are partly a response to his conversations with tribal members.
"When I travel to Cheyenne River and Standing Rock ... this is very important to their culture and their tradition," he said.
Jackley said the investigation continues with the possibility of more indictments, and those already filed involve a "significant number of artifacts."
Brian Ekrem, 28, of Selby and Richard Geffre, 49, of Pierre allegedly sold three copper arm bands in violation of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and were involved in the collection of many other artifacts, including beads, arrowheads and bone tools.
Scott Matteson, 60, of Fort Pierre is accused of buying red stone discs, arrowheads and a sandstone scraping tool, all of which had been removed from public and Indian lands.
Each man pleaded not guilty earlier this month in Pierre and was released without bond until his next court appearance. In each case, court records do not specify how the items were obtained or to which tribe they probably belonged.
Matteson said last week that he bought the items from an artifacts dealer and he did not know their origins. He said that transaction of less than $300 has resulted in what he hopes is only a temporary loss of his artifact museum.
He said federal agents recently confiscated his 38-foot trailer filled with Native American arrowheads, pots and other relics, which he has collected during the past 50 years.
"I scoured the country for those arrowheads. I put my life into this. I built this museum to go to schools to teach and show kids," Matteson said.
He said he began collecting arrowheads as a child when he would get farmers' permission to search their cornfields and keep an eye out while fishing with his father. When the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 restricted the collection of artifacts from riverbeds - navigable waterways are public land - he turned to auctions and gun shows to build his collection.
Looting on tribal lands
Federal laws prohibit the removal of human remains, funerary items and other sacred items from Indian land and public land and prohibits anyone from knowingly buying those items. The law does not stop landowners from digging or collecting those items on their own property, Jackley said.
At the Prairie Star art store in downtown Sioux Falls, owner Linda Boyd said she always is conscious of the federal laws, so she buys only modern items.
"We just deliberately don't buy old things," Boyd said. "It's something that we're always aware of."
Donna Rae Petersen, cultural programs administrator for Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said despite the laws, looting is common.
"We've got photos of where people actually go in from the side of the river banks" to take artifacts, Petersen said. "There's quite a market for those, and I know people sell those on eBay."
In a way, the federal laws are atonement for the mistakes of the past.
The damming of the Missouri River in the 1950s and 1960s flooded the valley, disrupting the burial places of many generations of Sioux tribes, USD anthropologist Brian Molyneaux said. The reservoirs covered the homelands of their ancestors and eroded the higher banks.
"This slow and steady destruction of the banks by wave action and ice gouging exposes traces of the old occupations - and tempts artifact collectors to loot the sites," Molyneaux said in an e-mail.
"As tribes hold every place and every remnant of the past as part of a living legacy - central to their religions and histories - each act of looting is yet another in a very long line of aggressive attacks against them, when they only want to live at peace in their own land."
Past prosecutions of illegal removal
Jackley said his predecessors have prosecuted a handful of cases under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act.
In a 2002 case, Vernon Cuny Jr. of Oglala removed shell beads from a thousand-year-old skeleton and discarded the remains, Jackley said.
Walter Digmann of Rapid City admitted that in 2004, he carved initials - his own, his daughter's and his dog's - alongside ancient petroglyphs and pictographs at Craven Canyon near Edgemont.
But those previous cases were not on the scale of the current prosecution.
Peterson is encouraged by the recent indictments. She said that with only one enforcement officer for more than 3 million acres of land, the Cheyenne Sioux have been unable to arrest looters on their own. Meanwhile, she worries, collectors are profiting off the sacred items of the tribe's ancestors.
She said she's found people selling amulets that contain parts of Native American children's umbilical cords.
"To think about someone trying to sell that, it's very disconcerting," she said.
Reach Josh Verges at 331-2335.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081228/NEWS/812280303/1001/news
S.D. men charged in sale of historical Indian items
December 28, 2008
Josh Verges
jverges@argusleader.com
The federal indictments of three men accused of trafficking in Native American artifacts reveal a lucrative trade centered on the illegal harvesting of a culture's buried history.
U.S. Attorney Marty Jackley said the indictments - the first of their kind in his two and a half years on the job - are partly a response to his conversations with tribal members.
"When I travel to Cheyenne River and Standing Rock ... this is very important to their culture and their tradition," he said.
Jackley said the investigation continues with the possibility of more indictments, and those already filed involve a "significant number of artifacts."
Brian Ekrem, 28, of Selby and Richard Geffre, 49, of Pierre allegedly sold three copper arm bands in violation of the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act and were involved in the collection of many other artifacts, including beads, arrowheads and bone tools.
Scott Matteson, 60, of Fort Pierre is accused of buying red stone discs, arrowheads and a sandstone scraping tool, all of which had been removed from public and Indian lands.
Each man pleaded not guilty earlier this month in Pierre and was released without bond until his next court appearance. In each case, court records do not specify how the items were obtained or to which tribe they probably belonged.
Matteson said last week that he bought the items from an artifacts dealer and he did not know their origins. He said that transaction of less than $300 has resulted in what he hopes is only a temporary loss of his artifact museum.
He said federal agents recently confiscated his 38-foot trailer filled with Native American arrowheads, pots and other relics, which he has collected during the past 50 years.
"I scoured the country for those arrowheads. I put my life into this. I built this museum to go to schools to teach and show kids," Matteson said.
He said he began collecting arrowheads as a child when he would get farmers' permission to search their cornfields and keep an eye out while fishing with his father. When the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979 restricted the collection of artifacts from riverbeds - navigable waterways are public land - he turned to auctions and gun shows to build his collection.
Looting on tribal lands
Federal laws prohibit the removal of human remains, funerary items and other sacred items from Indian land and public land and prohibits anyone from knowingly buying those items. The law does not stop landowners from digging or collecting those items on their own property, Jackley said.
At the Prairie Star art store in downtown Sioux Falls, owner Linda Boyd said she always is conscious of the federal laws, so she buys only modern items.
"We just deliberately don't buy old things," Boyd said. "It's something that we're always aware of."
Donna Rae Petersen, cultural programs administrator for Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said despite the laws, looting is common.
"We've got photos of where people actually go in from the side of the river banks" to take artifacts, Petersen said. "There's quite a market for those, and I know people sell those on eBay."
In a way, the federal laws are atonement for the mistakes of the past.
The damming of the Missouri River in the 1950s and 1960s flooded the valley, disrupting the burial places of many generations of Sioux tribes, USD anthropologist Brian Molyneaux said. The reservoirs covered the homelands of their ancestors and eroded the higher banks.
"This slow and steady destruction of the banks by wave action and ice gouging exposes traces of the old occupations - and tempts artifact collectors to loot the sites," Molyneaux said in an e-mail.
"As tribes hold every place and every remnant of the past as part of a living legacy - central to their religions and histories - each act of looting is yet another in a very long line of aggressive attacks against them, when they only want to live at peace in their own land."
Past prosecutions of illegal removal
Jackley said his predecessors have prosecuted a handful of cases under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act.
In a 2002 case, Vernon Cuny Jr. of Oglala removed shell beads from a thousand-year-old skeleton and discarded the remains, Jackley said.
Walter Digmann of Rapid City admitted that in 2004, he carved initials - his own, his daughter's and his dog's - alongside ancient petroglyphs and pictographs at Craven Canyon near Edgemont.
But those previous cases were not on the scale of the current prosecution.
Peterson is encouraged by the recent indictments. She said that with only one enforcement officer for more than 3 million acres of land, the Cheyenne Sioux have been unable to arrest looters on their own. Meanwhile, she worries, collectors are profiting off the sacred items of the tribe's ancestors.
She said she's found people selling amulets that contain parts of Native American children's umbilical cords.
"To think about someone trying to sell that, it's very disconcerting," she said.
Reach Josh Verges at 331-2335.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20081228/NEWS/812280303/1001/news
Sunday, December 21, 2008
ACJACHEMEN SACRED SITE PANHE SAVED! U.S. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT SAYS TOLL ROAD NOT IN NATIONAL INTEREST
You can download the decision at http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081218_tca.html
For Immediate Release
December 18, 2008
Contact: Rebecca Robles rebrobles1@gmail.com
Angela Mooney D'Arcy angela.ucpp@gmail.com
www.savepanhe.org
ACJACHEMEN SACRED SITE PANHE SAVED! U.S. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT SAYS TOLL ROAD NOT IN NATIONAL INTEREST
PANHE, San Clemente, CA—Members of the Acjachemen Nation, the United Coalition to Protect Panhe (UCPP), and our allies in the environmental and social justice movements celebrate a tremendous victory today. The Native American sacred site Panhe and San Onofre State Park will remain protected thanks to a decision from the U.S. Department of Commerce issued earlier this morning. The Secretary of Commerce upheld the California Coastal Commission decision regarding the Transportation Corridor Agency's proposal to build a six-lane toll road in a popular state park and camp ground and one of the most historically significant sacred sites of the Acjachemen people.
"Our hearts are filled with gratitude today. I am grateful for the support of UCPP members and our allies. This victory would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of our tribal community members, Tribal Nations, and our allies such as the Native American Heritage Commission, The City Project, the Sierra Club, California State Parks Foundation and others," said Rebecca Robles, UCPP co-founder and co-director.
Angela Mooney D'Arcy, co-director for UCPP said, "Today is a significant day for Panhe, the Ancestors, the Acjachemen people, San Onofre, and the millions of people who enjoy this state park and camp ground every year. However, this process is not over. On behalf of the United Coalition to Protect Panhe, we call upon the TCA to suspend all litigation and federal lobbying activities and instead focus its resources on studying reasonable alternatives to the toll road."
Louis Robles, Jr., Acjachemen tribal member said of the decision, "The voices of our Ancestors have been heard. This is an incredible victory for Panhe and for Indigenous peoples everywhere."
Background:
UCPP is a grassroots coalition of Acjachemen people dedicated to the protection of our sacred sites. Panhe is an Acjachemen sacred site and is listed on the California Sacred Lands Inventory maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission, is eligible for listing as a Traditional Cultural Property, and is part of the San Mateo Archaeological District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. San Onofre remains one of the most popular state parks and is visited by nearly 2.5 million people every year. The toll road would have devastated Panhe and San Onofre. In February 2008, the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to block a toll road that would have caused severe and irreparable harm to Panhe and destroyed San Onofre, the fifth-most visited park in California. When explaining her decision before the crowd of over 3,000, Coastal Commissioner Mary Shallenberger said that the impacts of the proposed toll road on the Acjachemen people were reason enough to deny the road.
To obtain a copy of NOAA's press release on the Commerce Department Decision go to http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081218_tca.html
For Immediate Release
December 18, 2008
Contact: Rebecca Robles rebrobles1@gmail.com
Angela Mooney D'Arcy angela.ucpp@gmail.com
www.savepanhe.org
ACJACHEMEN SACRED SITE PANHE SAVED! U.S. COMMERCE DEPARTMENT SAYS TOLL ROAD NOT IN NATIONAL INTEREST
PANHE, San Clemente, CA—Members of the Acjachemen Nation, the United Coalition to Protect Panhe (UCPP), and our allies in the environmental and social justice movements celebrate a tremendous victory today. The Native American sacred site Panhe and San Onofre State Park will remain protected thanks to a decision from the U.S. Department of Commerce issued earlier this morning. The Secretary of Commerce upheld the California Coastal Commission decision regarding the Transportation Corridor Agency's proposal to build a six-lane toll road in a popular state park and camp ground and one of the most historically significant sacred sites of the Acjachemen people.
"Our hearts are filled with gratitude today. I am grateful for the support of UCPP members and our allies. This victory would not have been possible without the collaborative efforts of our tribal community members, Tribal Nations, and our allies such as the Native American Heritage Commission, The City Project, the Sierra Club, California State Parks Foundation and others," said Rebecca Robles, UCPP co-founder and co-director.
Angela Mooney D'Arcy, co-director for UCPP said, "Today is a significant day for Panhe, the Ancestors, the Acjachemen people, San Onofre, and the millions of people who enjoy this state park and camp ground every year. However, this process is not over. On behalf of the United Coalition to Protect Panhe, we call upon the TCA to suspend all litigation and federal lobbying activities and instead focus its resources on studying reasonable alternatives to the toll road."
Louis Robles, Jr., Acjachemen tribal member said of the decision, "The voices of our Ancestors have been heard. This is an incredible victory for Panhe and for Indigenous peoples everywhere."
Background:
UCPP is a grassroots coalition of Acjachemen people dedicated to the protection of our sacred sites. Panhe is an Acjachemen sacred site and is listed on the California Sacred Lands Inventory maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission, is eligible for listing as a Traditional Cultural Property, and is part of the San Mateo Archaeological District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. San Onofre remains one of the most popular state parks and is visited by nearly 2.5 million people every year. The toll road would have devastated Panhe and San Onofre. In February 2008, the California Coastal Commission voted 8-2 to block a toll road that would have caused severe and irreparable harm to Panhe and destroyed San Onofre, the fifth-most visited park in California. When explaining her decision before the crowd of over 3,000, Coastal Commissioner Mary Shallenberger said that the impacts of the proposed toll road on the Acjachemen people were reason enough to deny the road.
To obtain a copy of NOAA's press release on the Commerce Department Decision go to http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20081218_tca.html
Saturday, December 20, 2008
YouTube video leads to graverobber's arrest
YouTube video leads to graverobber's arrest
Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 12/20/2008 01:33:45 AM PST
The discerning eye of a federal Bureau of Land Management employee and
the investigative skills of Patrick's Point State Park (CA) Ranger
Greg Hall led to the arrest of a Eureka man this week on suspicion of
looting archaeological items from an ancient tribal village site.
At the center of the investigation was a video the suspect created and
subsequently posted on YouTube showing him digging at the village site
within Patrick's Point State Park.
"It was a bragging video," Hall said.
With a search warrant for YouTube, Hall was able to determine the
location of the computer used to upload the video and able to identify
the suspect by looking at other videos he had posted, since his face
was not readily visible in the looting film.
Hall said he then contacted the property management company who
handled the suspect's rental, and was able to obtain his cellular
phone number and convince the suspect to come in for questioning.
With another search warrant, state park rangers had searched the
suspect's Eureka home earlier in the day and found several artifacts
from the North Coast and other areas.
Hall subsequently arrested James Edward Truhls, 30, on suspicion of
removing artifacts from a burial ground, disturbing or removing
archaeological features, possession of stolen property and disturbing
artifacts -- two misdemeanor counts and two felony counts. Truhls
posted bail the same day and is scheduled for arraignment on Dec. 31.
"This case is significant," North Coast Redwoods District
archaeologist Greg Collins said, "because we were able to catch the
culprit."
The looting of sacred sites is common, but it's often difficult to
make arrests. Many, like the suspect, are private collectors. Several
of the comments made on Truhls' YouTube video praised his desecration
of the site.
For the Yurok Tribe, it's a crime that is considered one of the most
offensive committed against ancestors.
"These items likely came from Yurok burial grounds and removing them
from this sacred place is disrespectful and a violation of Yurok
traditional law, as well as state and federal law," Tribal Chairwoman
Maria Tripp said in a prepared announcement.
Frank Lara, a member of the Yurok Tribe's Repatriation Committee,
described the spiritual aspect of removing tools from a grave site.
Say, he said, there's a crippled man whose job it is to make regalia,
a responsibility that requires specific tools. When he dies, Lara
said, he is buried with his tools so he may continue his work in the
afterlife. Without the tools -- such as when a looter steals them --
the spirit wanders and doesn't belong anywhere.
"This area has a great deal of cultural relevance to Yuroks," Yurok
Tribe Repatriation Committee Chairman Gene Brundin said.
Brundin expressed the tribe's appreciation to State Parks, Trinidad
Police Department and the Bureau of Land Management, who cooperated in
the investigation.
Brundin said while it gives the Yurok people great satisfaction to be
able to return the stolen items to their resting place, it's with
great sadness that it has to be done in the first place.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_11277958
Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 12/20/2008 01:33:45 AM PST
The discerning eye of a federal Bureau of Land Management employee and
the investigative skills of Patrick's Point State Park (CA) Ranger
Greg Hall led to the arrest of a Eureka man this week on suspicion of
looting archaeological items from an ancient tribal village site.
At the center of the investigation was a video the suspect created and
subsequently posted on YouTube showing him digging at the village site
within Patrick's Point State Park.
"It was a bragging video," Hall said.
With a search warrant for YouTube, Hall was able to determine the
location of the computer used to upload the video and able to identify
the suspect by looking at other videos he had posted, since his face
was not readily visible in the looting film.
Hall said he then contacted the property management company who
handled the suspect's rental, and was able to obtain his cellular
phone number and convince the suspect to come in for questioning.
With another search warrant, state park rangers had searched the
suspect's Eureka home earlier in the day and found several artifacts
from the North Coast and other areas.
Hall subsequently arrested James Edward Truhls, 30, on suspicion of
removing artifacts from a burial ground, disturbing or removing
archaeological features, possession of stolen property and disturbing
artifacts -- two misdemeanor counts and two felony counts. Truhls
posted bail the same day and is scheduled for arraignment on Dec. 31.
"This case is significant," North Coast Redwoods District
archaeologist Greg Collins said, "because we were able to catch the
culprit."
The looting of sacred sites is common, but it's often difficult to
make arrests. Many, like the suspect, are private collectors. Several
of the comments made on Truhls' YouTube video praised his desecration
of the site.
For the Yurok Tribe, it's a crime that is considered one of the most
offensive committed against ancestors.
"These items likely came from Yurok burial grounds and removing them
from this sacred place is disrespectful and a violation of Yurok
traditional law, as well as state and federal law," Tribal Chairwoman
Maria Tripp said in a prepared announcement.
Frank Lara, a member of the Yurok Tribe's Repatriation Committee,
described the spiritual aspect of removing tools from a grave site.
Say, he said, there's a crippled man whose job it is to make regalia,
a responsibility that requires specific tools. When he dies, Lara
said, he is buried with his tools so he may continue his work in the
afterlife. Without the tools -- such as when a looter steals them --
the spirit wanders and doesn't belong anywhere.
"This area has a great deal of cultural relevance to Yuroks," Yurok
Tribe Repatriation Committee Chairman Gene Brundin said.
Brundin expressed the tribe's appreciation to State Parks, Trinidad
Police Department and the Bureau of Land Management, who cooperated in
the investigation.
Brundin said while it gives the Yurok people great satisfaction to be
able to return the stolen items to their resting place, it's with
great sadness that it has to be done in the first place.
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_11277958
Thursday, December 18, 2008
2009 Tribal NPS Grant
The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 authorizes grants to Federally recognized Indian tribes for cultural and historic preservation projects. These grants assist Indian Tribes, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiian Organizations in protecting and promoting their unique cultural heritage and traditions.
From the beginning, the program has been shaped by Indian tribes. It focuses on what they are most concerned with protecting - Native language, oral history, plant and animal species important in tradition, sacred and historic places, and the establishment of tribal historic preservation offices.
Since 1990, more than $17 million has been awarded to over 460 Indian and Alaskan Native communities.
Application materials for the 2009 grants are now available.
Deadline is Friday, January 30, 2009
Grant details and the application can be found at the following link:
http://www.nps.gov:80/history/hps/HPG/Tribal/index.htm
From the beginning, the program has been shaped by Indian tribes. It focuses on what they are most concerned with protecting - Native language, oral history, plant and animal species important in tradition, sacred and historic places, and the establishment of tribal historic preservation offices.
Since 1990, more than $17 million has been awarded to over 460 Indian and Alaskan Native communities.
Application materials for the 2009 grants are now available.
Deadline is Friday, January 30, 2009
Grant details and the application can be found at the following link:
http://www.nps.gov:80/history/hps/HPG/Tribal/index.htm
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Black Friday brings Shellmound protest
Black Friday brings Shellmound protest
Black Friday brings Shellmound protest
By Shadi Rahimi, Today correspondent
Story Published: Dec 12, 2008
EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Hardcore shoppers woke up at dawn and hit the stores soon after, following the call of TV and radio advertisements instructing them to “Buy now, pay later.”
In a parking lot of the Bay Street Mall, a man drove away from Circuit City with a new 64-inch HD TV in his truck bed. The Shoe Pavilion next door declared it was “Going Out of Business.” Other windows were decked for Christmas. It was Black Friday. A day for shopping. And protest.
Just before noon, about 40 Shellmound walkers arrived at the outdoor mega-mall constructed to resemble a quaint Main Street, albeit with many parking lots and several levels and big box stores. For the past four years, this group of Natives and non-Natives has been walking several miles at a time the week leading up to Black Friday to draw attention to the desecration of sacred sites.
Their ending point has always been here – the site of the former Emeryville Shellmound, a mound of shellfish and animal remains, bone tools and other artifacts, human remains and earth that over centuries of inhabitance by the Muwekma Ohlone had grown to 40-feet high and 350-feet wide.
A steady stream of cars drove by as the walkers waved signs that read, “This Sacred Site is Older Than Pyramids,” “You Are Shopping on Burial Ground,” and “I Just Found Oakland, Can I Keep It?”
Some cars honked in support. Others turned to drive into the mall.
The Emeryville Shellmound was leveled for an amusement park in 1876, then a highly polluting industrial plant in 1924, and was finally excavated in 1999 to build the shopping mall. The 2,500 ancestral bones found on the site were handed over to scientists at U.C.-Berkeley, UCLA, Sonoma State University and Humboldt State University, according to the city’s Redevelopment Agency.
More than 12,000 California tribal remains are already housed at U.C.-Berkeley. Despite protests and support from legislators, a majority of the collection has yet to be returned under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Buddhist monks planned a fast in protest of the University’s possession of tribal remains from Dec. 1 to Dec. 4, and sat in prayer in front of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
On the Friday after the holiday known as Thanksgiving, four of the monks sat on the ground at the corner of Ohlone Way and Shellmound Street, named as a kind of peace offering to Natives who wanted the Shellmound site to be commemorated and recognized, “like the pyramids in Egypt,” said Miwok activist Wounded Knee DeCampo.
The Buddhist monks chanted in prayer and pounded drums. Behind them, protestors handed informational flyers to shoppers.
“This is a peaceful protest,” Muwekma Ohlone and Yokut organizer Corrina Gould reminded a circle of walkers. “We are not here to be screaming at people. We are here to educate, and get it out in a good spirit that we do not want people to be shopping at this mall.”
Some shoppers were surprised to hear of the site’s history. “I had no idea!” a mother exclaimed as she shared a flyer with her teenage daughter.
Another woman was not pleased to pass the protest on her way to shop. “I have not one bit of guilt,” she announced loudly to her male companion as they breezed past.
Just being a presence is important, said Cheyenne Gould, 18, who is Muwekma Ohlone and Yokut on her mother’s side and Cheyenne, Arapaho and Choctaw on her father’s.
“The power around me right now, it’s really strong, and it helps me cope with it; it does hurt that my ancestors are still here and there’s concrete and people shopping here – it’s disturbing,” she said. “You tell people and they’re like, ‘Really?’ Some have told me, ‘I’m never gonna shop here.’”
Many of the 425 shellmounds across the Bay Area have been razed and paved over, her mother told the walkers, including the Glen Cove Shellmound in Vallejo where homes and condo’s now stand. That is where DeCampo began his walk this year.
“Everything takes time,” he said. “But it’s gonna change because people are gonna start listening to Indigenous people. We tell them, ‘What if it was your cemetery?’”
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/36061884.html
Black Friday brings Shellmound protest
By Shadi Rahimi, Today correspondent
Story Published: Dec 12, 2008
EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Hardcore shoppers woke up at dawn and hit the stores soon after, following the call of TV and radio advertisements instructing them to “Buy now, pay later.”
In a parking lot of the Bay Street Mall, a man drove away from Circuit City with a new 64-inch HD TV in his truck bed. The Shoe Pavilion next door declared it was “Going Out of Business.” Other windows were decked for Christmas. It was Black Friday. A day for shopping. And protest.
Just before noon, about 40 Shellmound walkers arrived at the outdoor mega-mall constructed to resemble a quaint Main Street, albeit with many parking lots and several levels and big box stores. For the past four years, this group of Natives and non-Natives has been walking several miles at a time the week leading up to Black Friday to draw attention to the desecration of sacred sites.
Their ending point has always been here – the site of the former Emeryville Shellmound, a mound of shellfish and animal remains, bone tools and other artifacts, human remains and earth that over centuries of inhabitance by the Muwekma Ohlone had grown to 40-feet high and 350-feet wide.
A steady stream of cars drove by as the walkers waved signs that read, “This Sacred Site is Older Than Pyramids,” “You Are Shopping on Burial Ground,” and “I Just Found Oakland, Can I Keep It?”
Some cars honked in support. Others turned to drive into the mall.
The Emeryville Shellmound was leveled for an amusement park in 1876, then a highly polluting industrial plant in 1924, and was finally excavated in 1999 to build the shopping mall. The 2,500 ancestral bones found on the site were handed over to scientists at U.C.-Berkeley, UCLA, Sonoma State University and Humboldt State University, according to the city’s Redevelopment Agency.
More than 12,000 California tribal remains are already housed at U.C.-Berkeley. Despite protests and support from legislators, a majority of the collection has yet to be returned under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).
Buddhist monks planned a fast in protest of the University’s possession of tribal remains from Dec. 1 to Dec. 4, and sat in prayer in front of the Hearst Museum of Anthropology.
On the Friday after the holiday known as Thanksgiving, four of the monks sat on the ground at the corner of Ohlone Way and Shellmound Street, named as a kind of peace offering to Natives who wanted the Shellmound site to be commemorated and recognized, “like the pyramids in Egypt,” said Miwok activist Wounded Knee DeCampo.
The Buddhist monks chanted in prayer and pounded drums. Behind them, protestors handed informational flyers to shoppers.
“This is a peaceful protest,” Muwekma Ohlone and Yokut organizer Corrina Gould reminded a circle of walkers. “We are not here to be screaming at people. We are here to educate, and get it out in a good spirit that we do not want people to be shopping at this mall.”
Some shoppers were surprised to hear of the site’s history. “I had no idea!” a mother exclaimed as she shared a flyer with her teenage daughter.
Another woman was not pleased to pass the protest on her way to shop. “I have not one bit of guilt,” she announced loudly to her male companion as they breezed past.
Just being a presence is important, said Cheyenne Gould, 18, who is Muwekma Ohlone and Yokut on her mother’s side and Cheyenne, Arapaho and Choctaw on her father’s.
“The power around me right now, it’s really strong, and it helps me cope with it; it does hurt that my ancestors are still here and there’s concrete and people shopping here – it’s disturbing,” she said. “You tell people and they’re like, ‘Really?’ Some have told me, ‘I’m never gonna shop here.’”
Many of the 425 shellmounds across the Bay Area have been razed and paved over, her mother told the walkers, including the Glen Cove Shellmound in Vallejo where homes and condo’s now stand. That is where DeCampo began his walk this year.
“Everything takes time,” he said. “But it’s gonna change because people are gonna start listening to Indigenous people. We tell them, ‘What if it was your cemetery?’”
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/36061884.html
Secretary Kempthorne Presents First Annual Secretarial Historic Preservation Awards
Secretary Kempthorne Presents First Annual Secretarial Historic Preservation Awards
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today presented the first annual Secretary of the Interior Historic Preservation Awards to four government and tribal employees at the department’s Washington headquarters.
“These awards are the equivalent of an Emmy award in the field of historic preservation,” Secretary Kempthorne said at the ceremony in his office. “The ingenuity and dedication of these individuals are inspiring. The first-ever winners include Deborah Corbett, a Fish and Wildlife Service archeologist covering a territory of 78 million often-frozen acres in Alaska; Kelly Jackson, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Lac du Flambeau band in Wisconsin; William Morgan, a consensus builder who staffs the Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission in Muncie, Indiana; and Calder Loth, Senior Architectural Historian for the state of Virginia.”
The Secretary of the Interior historic preservation annual award program was created to recognize the outstanding contributions of the employees of Federal, State, and Tribal Preservation Offices and Certified Local Governments in the area of historic preservation.
Secretary Kempthorne established the award to implement a longstanding statutory mandate for a cabinet level of recognition in Section 110(h) of the National Historic Preservation Act. The Secretary’s award is distinguished from other historic preservation award programs in that it focuses on the accomplishments of individual employees and not on programs or projects. The award also recognizes the contributions of employees at multiple levels of government.
Award winners are individuals whose contributions surpass the expected scope of their positions, and whose creativity and expertise have significantly fostered the overall goals of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Participating in the ceremony along with the Secretary were Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett as Master of Ceremonies and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar.
More information on the award winners in each of the four categories follows. More information on the annual award can be found at http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/preservation.html.
Kelly Jackson: Tribal Historic Preservation Office Category
Kelly Jackson has served as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin since 1998. Kelly is Vice Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s (ACHP) Native American Advisory Group and has served on the Archaeology Task Force as well as the ACHP’s Human Resource Policy Task Force. She assisted in the development of a leading guide to tribal historic preservation. Published by the Great Lakes Indian Law Center, University of Wisconsin Law School, it is called What is Tribal Historic Preservation, A Guide to Tribal Historic Preservation in Indian Country.
Kelly was an active panelist in the Preserve America Summit held in New Orleans in October 2006 and co-authored one of the panel position papers at the summit. Kelly also serves as the chief grant administrator for the Native American Graves Protection Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) program and has completed twelve Tribal Project grants. Nationally, Kelly has been active in the Native American Tribal Historic Preservation Officers organization and has been a Board Member and Treasurer since its inception.
Deborah Corbett: Federal Preservation Office Category
Debbie Corbett serves as the Regional Historic Preservation Officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska, which contains 16 National Wildlife Refuges totaling over 78 million acres. As Alaska’s only Service archeologist, her responsibilities cover all aspects of the federal preservation program including research, identification, protection, coordination with Native villages, and care of museum collections.
In 2008, Debbie partnered with more than a dozen organizations, universities, government entities, and tribes to leverage federal funds to accomplish dozens of projects. Other projects include the complex issues associated with World War II in the Pacific in the Aleutian Islands as well as coordination with the Japanese government. She has also partnered with the Kenaitze Indian tribe and sponsored a youth Susten Camp for Native kids that connects kids with their past and trains them for possible careers in natural and cultural resource management.
Debbie has been involved with vast stretches of the Iditarod National Historic Trail and has assisted the research along the route and sponsored archaeological investigation through a major community on the trail.
William Morgan: Certified Local Government Category
Bill Morgan is a graduate architect and has both served on and currently staffs the Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission of Muncie, Indiana. Working in good faith with many resident groups and local districts of varying views, Bill has managed to bring them together at the table for mutually satisfactory solutions.
Bill prepared an “Electronic Communication Policy” to promote the use of email communication to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of the commission in meeting its objectives. He also developed a “Petition Signature Verification Policy” setting forth clear instructions on correctly structuring petitions and providing verifiable signatures. Adopted by the Commission, this innovative policy helps ensure that petitions with only legal property owners are presented to the Commission while non-conforming petitions are prevented from reaching and distracting the Commission.
With Bill’s leadership, the Muncie Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission turned serious challenges into positive changes to the Commission’s procedures, including the formation of a neighborhood advisory committee, the adoption of amendments to the City’s preservation ordinance and commission bylaws, and the adoption of several innovative policies to improve and protect the workings of the Commission. Bill’s efforts have repeatedly reached mutually amenable outcomes and have regained neighborhood support for the role of the Commission in the protection of Muncie’s cultural resources.
Calder Loth: State Historic Preservation Office Category
In a career spanning four decades, Calder Loth has shaped the direction of historic preservation programs from survey and National Register listings to rehabilitation tax credits, review and compliance, and preservation easements. He has inspired generations of preservation professionals. Calder began his career as a newly minted Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia in 1968 with the equally new Virginia Landmarks Commission. Over 40 years, Calder has grown with what is now the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, working with property owners, preservation professionals, scholars, and public agencies in all aspects of the national historic preservation program.
A respected Senior Architectural Historian for Virginia, Calder has played an integral role in Virginia’s historic preservation easement program for the entire life of this nationally recognized protection program. The state of Virginia holds over 450 historic preservation easements today and operates one of the most successful easement programs in the country.
Calder is a long-standing member of the Virginia Art and Architecture Review Board. His expertise has shaped the preservation and renovation of many buildings including the Virginia State Capital and the historic executive mansion. He continues to give back to the preservation community as a staunch advocate and widely published author for “architectural literacy” giving lectures to museums, universities, and professional societies worldwide.
Contact: Joan Moody
202-208-6416
http://7thspace.com/headlines/299492/secretary_kempthorne_presents_first_annual_secretarial_historic_preservation_awards.html
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today presented the first annual Secretary of the Interior Historic Preservation Awards to four government and tribal employees at the department’s Washington headquarters.
“These awards are the equivalent of an Emmy award in the field of historic preservation,” Secretary Kempthorne said at the ceremony in his office. “The ingenuity and dedication of these individuals are inspiring. The first-ever winners include Deborah Corbett, a Fish and Wildlife Service archeologist covering a territory of 78 million often-frozen acres in Alaska; Kelly Jackson, the tribal historic preservation officer for the Lac du Flambeau band in Wisconsin; William Morgan, a consensus builder who staffs the Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission in Muncie, Indiana; and Calder Loth, Senior Architectural Historian for the state of Virginia.”
The Secretary of the Interior historic preservation annual award program was created to recognize the outstanding contributions of the employees of Federal, State, and Tribal Preservation Offices and Certified Local Governments in the area of historic preservation.
Secretary Kempthorne established the award to implement a longstanding statutory mandate for a cabinet level of recognition in Section 110(h) of the National Historic Preservation Act. The Secretary’s award is distinguished from other historic preservation award programs in that it focuses on the accomplishments of individual employees and not on programs or projects. The award also recognizes the contributions of employees at multiple levels of government.
Award winners are individuals whose contributions surpass the expected scope of their positions, and whose creativity and expertise have significantly fostered the overall goals of the National Historic Preservation Act.
Participating in the ceremony along with the Secretary were Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett as Master of Ceremonies and National Park Service Director Mary Bomar.
More information on the award winners in each of the four categories follows. More information on the annual award can be found at http://www.doi.gov/initiatives/preservation.html.
Kelly Jackson: Tribal Historic Preservation Office Category
Kelly Jackson has served as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians in Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin since 1998. Kelly is Vice Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation’s (ACHP) Native American Advisory Group and has served on the Archaeology Task Force as well as the ACHP’s Human Resource Policy Task Force. She assisted in the development of a leading guide to tribal historic preservation. Published by the Great Lakes Indian Law Center, University of Wisconsin Law School, it is called What is Tribal Historic Preservation, A Guide to Tribal Historic Preservation in Indian Country.
Kelly was an active panelist in the Preserve America Summit held in New Orleans in October 2006 and co-authored one of the panel position papers at the summit. Kelly also serves as the chief grant administrator for the Native American Graves Protection Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) program and has completed twelve Tribal Project grants. Nationally, Kelly has been active in the Native American Tribal Historic Preservation Officers organization and has been a Board Member and Treasurer since its inception.
Deborah Corbett: Federal Preservation Office Category
Debbie Corbett serves as the Regional Historic Preservation Officer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska, which contains 16 National Wildlife Refuges totaling over 78 million acres. As Alaska’s only Service archeologist, her responsibilities cover all aspects of the federal preservation program including research, identification, protection, coordination with Native villages, and care of museum collections.
In 2008, Debbie partnered with more than a dozen organizations, universities, government entities, and tribes to leverage federal funds to accomplish dozens of projects. Other projects include the complex issues associated with World War II in the Pacific in the Aleutian Islands as well as coordination with the Japanese government. She has also partnered with the Kenaitze Indian tribe and sponsored a youth Susten Camp for Native kids that connects kids with their past and trains them for possible careers in natural and cultural resource management.
Debbie has been involved with vast stretches of the Iditarod National Historic Trail and has assisted the research along the route and sponsored archaeological investigation through a major community on the trail.
William Morgan: Certified Local Government Category
Bill Morgan is a graduate architect and has both served on and currently staffs the Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission of Muncie, Indiana. Working in good faith with many resident groups and local districts of varying views, Bill has managed to bring them together at the table for mutually satisfactory solutions.
Bill prepared an “Electronic Communication Policy” to promote the use of email communication to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of the commission in meeting its objectives. He also developed a “Petition Signature Verification Policy” setting forth clear instructions on correctly structuring petitions and providing verifiable signatures. Adopted by the Commission, this innovative policy helps ensure that petitions with only legal property owners are presented to the Commission while non-conforming petitions are prevented from reaching and distracting the Commission.
With Bill’s leadership, the Muncie Historic Preservation and Rehabilitation Commission turned serious challenges into positive changes to the Commission’s procedures, including the formation of a neighborhood advisory committee, the adoption of amendments to the City’s preservation ordinance and commission bylaws, and the adoption of several innovative policies to improve and protect the workings of the Commission. Bill’s efforts have repeatedly reached mutually amenable outcomes and have regained neighborhood support for the role of the Commission in the protection of Muncie’s cultural resources.
Calder Loth: State Historic Preservation Office Category
In a career spanning four decades, Calder Loth has shaped the direction of historic preservation programs from survey and National Register listings to rehabilitation tax credits, review and compliance, and preservation easements. He has inspired generations of preservation professionals. Calder began his career as a newly minted Master of Architectural History from the University of Virginia in 1968 with the equally new Virginia Landmarks Commission. Over 40 years, Calder has grown with what is now the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, working with property owners, preservation professionals, scholars, and public agencies in all aspects of the national historic preservation program.
A respected Senior Architectural Historian for Virginia, Calder has played an integral role in Virginia’s historic preservation easement program for the entire life of this nationally recognized protection program. The state of Virginia holds over 450 historic preservation easements today and operates one of the most successful easement programs in the country.
Calder is a long-standing member of the Virginia Art and Architecture Review Board. His expertise has shaped the preservation and renovation of many buildings including the Virginia State Capital and the historic executive mansion. He continues to give back to the preservation community as a staunch advocate and widely published author for “architectural literacy” giving lectures to museums, universities, and professional societies worldwide.
Contact: Joan Moody
202-208-6416
http://7thspace.com/headlines/299492/secretary_kempthorne_presents_first_annual_secretarial_historic_preservation_awards.html
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