News from Indian Country
P^ge 9
Spilyay Tyvnoo
November 8, 2007
fmwïïwsÊtmm
Clues to history found in planned highway’s path
ASPEN HILL, Md. (AP)—
Five thousand years ago, this
sun-dappled stand of' oaks, was
a place where Native Americans
came .to gather quartz and make
tools. In the 1870s, an African
American farmstead stood a few
yards away.
.NowJ archaeologists are
working feverishly to learn all
they can about those earlier
chapters before this patch of
Montgomery County assumes
its next role in human history,
part of the roadbed of the pro
posed intercounty connector.
J u st off Georgia Avenue,
north o f Norbeck Road, field
researchers hired by die Mary
land Department of Transpor
tation arq in their final days of
digging, sifting, photographing
and cataloguing the proposed
route’s only known archaeologi
cal site. ,
After 21/2. months, they’ve
filled more than 175 boxes with
artifacts, enough to fuel
months’^, ot even years’, worth
.Of laboratory analysis. •
“We’re very excited,” said
Julie Sehablitsky, cultural re
sources manager for the State
Highway Administration. “This
gives usa chance to re-create the
story o f what happened here
thousands of years ago.” ;
Archaeologists found the site
in 2003 as a part o f a routine
check o f future highway lands.
H isto rical land docum ents
pointed them to the old home
stead. A nd the presence, of.
quartz boulders and a small wet
land, conditions to which ancient
people were often drawn, led
them to sink a series o f test
holes.
One of them turned up hand
fuls o f the kind of quartz chips‘
that archaeologists see as a kind
of Stone Age sawdust Someone
had once made a lot of arrow
heads, spear points and knife
blades there.
Scientists have not found
evidence that the area was ever
an established settlement in pre
historic times. Rather, they think
native folk visited periodically
during the late archaic period to
take advantage of the abundant
quartz. They might also have
harvested cattails from the
nearby marsh, a material that
once served as moccasin pad
ding and diaper filling,
Sehablitsky said.
“I think this was probably a
marketplace that people came
to for thousands and thousands
of years,” said Chris Polglase, an
archaeological consultant run
ning the dig.
Education conference in Hawaii proves very popular
FA R M IN G TpN ,\N .M . ship stands at almost 300,000,
.(AP;)— M ore than \ 360 second only to the Cherokee
people representing the 'Na- Nation.
:,yajo Nation attended an edu
Yet the Navajo .Nation sent
cation conference: in Hawaii more than seven times the num
at an estimated cost of more ber of delegates as the Chero-
than $500/100, the D aily1 kees did to th e conference. The
Times reported.
\ Hawaii delegation had the most
,-Tfkibal officials declined to /representatives with, 545.
release details about who be \ The National Indian Educa
yond top administratorSitrav- tion Association hosted the four-
eled and at what cost. The dav conference last month in
trip made by. some public Hotiplulu.
school district officials in the
Some 362 representatives,
regiqii cost at least $1,400 ¡jjf from the Navajo Nation prereg
person, the newspaper re istered for the , conference and
ported.
paid a $'4.0d fee, said Kim
The Navajo, N ation is Natcisso, accounting consultant
country’s largest American for association. Forty-five
Inchah reservation, spanning people representing the Chero
27?O0Ofsquafe miles itito kee Nation registered early,
parts of New Mexico, Utah
Narcisso said he believes the
and Arizona. Tribal member ! location was the biggest draw.' <
“Because it was Hawaii, we cials paid their own way to Ha
got good attendance,” Narcisso waii, federal funds covered some
said. “But frankly, I was sur of the trips..
prised to see so many people go.”
The Navajo Nation Council '
uA; total of 3/200 people at sent 18 delegates to the confer
tended this year’s conference, ence, where such topics as early
1,000 of whom registered on site. childhood education and issues
A breakdown of onsite registra facing American Indian education
tion was not immediately available, were discussed.
but could boost the number of
Council Speaker Lawrence
representatives from the Navajo Morgan said it’s not unusual for
Nation who attended.
tribal lawmakers to travel on be
About 1,900 people attended half of the sovereign nation.
the association’s past two confer
“The ^council delegates at
ences,^ which \Cere hekliri Anchor te n d ed the convention,to rep
age and; Denver.
re se n t th è N avajo N a tio n '
".(The. Centras! „Consolidated through their committee Over
SehoOl.pisttict on the western side sight'function,’? said Morgan,
of1 the Navajo reservation’ sent who also made the trip1. ‘As leg
eight school officials, six Indian islators „of the nation, they
Education Committee members needed to be involved and^
and two others, to this year’s con they did a wonderful job.” '
ference. While sbfoe school offM*
Morgan’s office declined to say
Badlands Park culls South Dakota bison herd
BADLANDS NATIONAL Oglala Sioux Tribe, 2 5 'to ffie and pregnancy, and each animal’s
PARK, S.p, (AP)— Badlands Standing Rock Tribe of North height and w eight were re
National Park has donated 155 •Dakota, and 94 tw th e Spirit corded.
buffalo J lq American Indian Lake Tribe o f N orth Dakota,
The largest animal processed
tribes as part of an ongoing ef according to the park.
|this year was a 12-year-old bull
Park employees and volun th at; weighed alrnost 2,300
fort to keep the park herd at a
population the park’s habitat can teers receritly rounded up 441 pounds. The oldest animal was
' bison in the park. Blood samples a 27-year-old cow, according to
support^,,
-Thirty-three bison went to the were taken to test for disease Veterinarian Boyd Porch. ■.
what the trip cost for each del
egate and would not release in
formation on how many del
egates had attended past con-,
ferences of the association.
Joshua Lavar Butler, a
spokesman for the Office of
the Speaker, said the del
egates’ travels were paid for
through a fund for the coun
cil committees that is written
into the fiscal year budget.
Former Education Com
m ittee Vice C hairm an
Wallace Charley said he be
lieves the council sent more
delegates than needed.
“T h a t’s way, way too
many,” he said. “Maybe they
went to learn something. Well,
we’re ready to hear /whát
vthey’ve learned.”
3-chief
Mohawk
government
recognized
ST. REGIS MOHAWK RES-
ERVATION/fN.Y (AP>—The
US. Bureau of Indian Affairs
has determined that it will|re<i-
ognize the current, elected three-
chief governm ent o f the St.
Regis Mohawk tribe.
The rttlingby Eastern Region
Director Franklin Keel means
that the United States will coti-
duct its government-to-govern-
ment business with the three-
chief government, which has
been in power since 1996.
Keel’s decision Wednesday
was the third time in the past 11
years that the bureau has de
cided on the Mohawk leadership
dispute. ,
In 1996* the bureau decided
it would recognize the so-called
'Constitutional Tribal Council as«-
the valid governm ent o f St.
Regis, which straddles the U.S.-
Canadian border in northerp
New York -
The Constitutional govern
ment had been approved by a
disputed- referendum vote in
June 1995.
' Hpyrever, the.following year,
St. Regis residents revoked the
tribal constitution and voted to
return to the three-chief system
that had been in place prior to
1995. v
In 2000, the BIA reversed
itself and cast its recognition to
the elected chiefs.
Vote won’t end tribes’ interest in casino venture
PASCAGOULA, Miss.
(AP)-—The chief o f the Mis
sissippi Band o f Choctaws
says the tribe’s interest in lo
cating a casino on the coast
will not end if a nonbinding
gambing vote fails in J ackson
County.
Beasley Denson, who pre
fers to be called “Miko,” the
Choctaw word fpt chief,' has
been making a series of speeches
in Jackson County this week in
support of the nonbinding ref
erendum on the tribe’s proposed
casino in Jackson County.
Denson said in a speech to
the Pascagoula Rotary Club that
he is optimistic local residents
will support the casino.
„ “If it fails v^w i!! talk to
the governor and see what are
the parameters we have in the
future. Who's to Say we might
n o t build in H a rriso n of
Hancock counties?” Denson
said.
“Then we become just an
other casino,” I
cun’s Repair
&
Anlo Sales
Free towing w/engine or trans
replacement from Warm
Springs & Madras area
Free Battery Check
& Installation
with purchase
475-6618
330 S.W. Culver Hwy.
Madras, OR 97741
§