News from Indian Country
Page 7
SpilyayTymoo
July 16, 2009
Rare artifacts date back thousands of years
L IS B O N , C o n n . (A P) -
Some young m en were walking
along a wooded bike path near
the Q uinebaug River w hen they
found a black spearhead laying
in the soil.
I t lo o k ed like p a rt o f an
A m erican Indian w eapon. So
they asked Richard Rogers, who
owns the land, if they could dig
for more.
In two weekends, they found
80 spearheads in an area about
the size o f a small bedroom .
Rogers decided to see for
himself. H e and his son, now 22,
walked through the woods, and
brought a bucket o f water to
clean their discoveries. N ear a
stu m p by th e riv er, R ogers
picked up an oval stone a litde
larger than a silver dollar.
Something was carved in it,
and he handed it to his son.
“H e cleaned it up and said,
This is a face, D ad.”
The stone was a rare pendant.
T hey had stum bled u p o n an
ancient A m erican In d ian en
cam pm ent and part o f a burial
ground dated m ore than 3,000
years ago.
T he state Office o f Archae
ology has excavated portions o f
the p roperty and found h u n
dreds o f artifacts, from stone
tools to evidence o f a pit where
crem ated bodies were buried.
Radiocarbon dating a m ethod
used to estimate the age o f re
mains in an archaeological site
places the tim e o f two areas
containing charcoal at 3,400 and
4,000 years ago.
R e p re se n ta tiv e s o f th e
M ohegan and M ashantucket
Pequots tribes and the Native
A m erican H eritage A dvisory
Council have visited the site.
T h e A rchaeological C o n ser
vancy, a private, nonprofit orga
nization that acquires and per
manently preserves im portant
archaeological sites across the
United States, has looked at it.
T he conservancy publishes the
quarterly m agazine A m erican
Archaeology.
Andrew Stout, eastern regional
director o f the group, said the site
has research potential and is eli
gible for the National Register o f
Historic Places.
“It’s a great property in that
At 94, Navajo potter not ready to quit
SANTA FE , N.M. (AP) -
Rose Williams can't under
stand why her family keeps
telling her to slow down, take
a break, get the rest her 94-
year-old body has earned.
So every morning, the N a
vajo matriarch gets up and
goes about the business o f
melding earth, fire and water
into beautifully burnished,
collectible pots.
“It's neither work nor play
for her. That's just w hat she
knows,” explained her great-
nephew, Ron Martinez, who
accompanied her on a recent
v isit to th e W h eelw rig h t
M useum o f the A m erican
Indian.
Williams sat at a table in
the m useum’s Case Trading
Post, next to a plastic bag full
o f clay dug from a seam near
her hom e in the Shonto area
o f the Navajo reservation in
far northeastern Arizona.
H er tools-were assembled in
front o f her: a dried corn cob,
an old plastic pill bottle — per
fect for sm oothing the inside o f
a p o t — and small rocks, for pol
ishing.
“Sometimes you'll find her
outside looking for pebbles. She
always finds one in this parking
lot,” Martinez said.
W illia m s’ b e n t fin g ers
grabbed a handful o f the clay
and deftly worked it, rolling it
between her palms into a long
coil, then slowly pinching the
coil in to place ato p a bow l
shaped chunk o f clay she had
just fashioned to serve as the
pot's foundation.
Rows o f coils sm oothed by
the corn cob would form the
pot, which would then be fired
in an open pit and swabbed with
warm, melted pitch from pinon
trees.
Williams didn't know quite
w hat shape this vessel w ould
take.
“I'm going to take my time
making this pot, and I'm n o t
sure w hat it's going to be,” she
said in Navajo, w ith Martinez
interpreting.
Williams' pots range in size
from about 6 inches or so — the
traditional size in which to boil
herbs for ceremonies — to one
that is nearly 2 feet tall, took two
m onths to make and is for sale
at the Case Trading P o st for
$1,800.
It’s a drum jar, which would
be filled w ith w ater and have
deer skin stretched over the top
to form the drum m ing surface
for ceremonies.
N avajo w om en have been
making pottery for hundreds o f
years for use at hom e and in cer
emonies, although production
fell o ff once trading posts made
metal and plastic cookware
available.
Traders rejected the tradi
tional dark brow n N avajo
p ottery as “m ud pots,” ac
co rd in g to th e late Susan
Peterson o f Scottsdale, Ariz.,
a ceramics artist w ho wrote
“Pottery by American Indian
Women: The Legacy o f G en
erations.” T he book was the
exhibition catalog for a 1997
show Peterson curated at the
National Museum o f Women
in the Arts, in Washington,
D.C. ’
Navajo blankets and jew
elry were m ore profitable in
the tourist market, she wrote.
But then m useum curators
began to take notice o f tra
ditional Navajo potters, and
W illiam s was th e first to
break into m useum markets
and fairs, in the 1950s, ac
cording to Peterson.
Cayugas win appeal in cigarette tax case
A UBURN, N.Y. (AP) - A
state appeals court says the Ca
yuga Indian N ation can con
tinue selling untaxed cigarettes
to non-Indians at its two upstate
N ew York convenience stores.
T he 3-1 decision released in
M anhattan reverses an order by
state Suprem e C o u rt Ju stice
K en n eth Fisher blocking the
sales at the LakeSide Trading
stores in Union Springs and Sen-
eca Falls in central N ew York.
Local authorities raided the
stores last N ovem ber, saying
they were violating state law by
selling cigarettes w ithout charg
ing the required tax 'and claim
in g $485,000 in state excise
taxes. T he Cayugas say they are
exempt from collecting the taxes
because their businesses are pro
tected by their sovereign nation
status.
it is set aside from any major
development,” he said. Stout re
searches sites on private prop
erty from Maine to N orth Caro
lina about 1,000 properties per
year.
State Archaeologist Nicholas
B ellantoni said the state has
found many American Indian
campsites, b u t few this large.
T he boundaries are unknown.
I “We don't have many that are
intact,” he said. “M any have
b e e n d istu rb e d by plow ing.
M any have had subdivisions
been built on them, highways.
H ere is a parcel that has been
untouched, and so the integrity
o f the place is really intact.”
H e said the pendant is a rare
find.
“T here are very few, even in
m useum collections,” he said.
“We don't see it often. W hen I
saw this, and all o f the stone
points they were getting here, I
realized there is a lot here that
could yield im portant activity in
the past.” The specific location
o f the dig is n o t being publi
cized because o f potential un
authorized digging.
Prescription drugs are
Indian County ‘monster’
BRO W N ING , M ont. (AP) -
Health officials on northwestern
Montana's Blackfeet Indian Res
ervation say only about two o f
12 patients at the local treatment
center are addicted to alcohol.
The rest, they say, are hooked
on prescription drugs.
Indian Country officials are
now calling prescription drug
abuse their “newest monster,”
the latest in a series o f chemical
scourges that started with alco
hol, transformed to illegal m eth
amphetamine and is now evolv
ing to pills.
E rm a Skunkcap, a substance
abuse counselor in Browning,
says “It's affecting everyone.”
Many o f the patients buy the
drugs illegally, grind them up
and either snort them or inject
them intravenously.
As a result, Indian health of
ficials say that instances o f hepa
titis C are rising — a disease that
in so m e in s ta n c e s re q u ire s
$15,000 a year in prescription
drugs to treat.
♦.
Tribe to dedicate w in d p la n t
M c G R E G O R , M inn.
(AP) — T he Mille Lacs Band
o f Ojibwe is investing in a
new type o f w ind turbine
designed for use by homes
and businesses.
O n Thursday, tribal offi
cials plan to dedicate a new
manufacturing plant where
workers will make a part for
the Windspire, That's a ver
tical-axis wind turbine made
by Reno, Nev.-based Mariah
Power. •
T h e p a rts w ill be a s
sembled at MasTech Manu
facturing LLC in Manistee,
Mich.
T hrough its investm ent in
Mariah Power, the Mille Lacs
Band will be the exclusive dis
tributor for any Indian reser
vation buying a W indspire
turbine, which costs about
$6,500.
A Windspire is 30 feet tall
and spins on a vertical axis
unlike the larger turbines seen
on wind farms.
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