News from Indian Country
Pgge 11 Spily3y Tymoo June 1, 2011
Prehistoric paintings get laser study
C O M ST O C K , Texas (AP) -
A co m p le x c o lo rfu l m ural
painted on canyon walls some
4,000 years ago in West Texas
is getting modern laser treatment
as researchers try to unlock its
mysteries and protect it from the
unintended consequences o f a
nearby reservoir.
Panther C ave, am ong the
best known o f several hundred
prehistoric pictograph sites that
dot the rugged canyons along
the US-Mexico border, is being
scanned with lasers to produce
a high-resolution 3-D image in
efforts to gauge the mural’s de
terioration and detect images
long ago erased by Mother N a
ture. They hope the project will
help them preserve and decipher
one o f the o ld est stories in
North America.
“ They are ancient texts, not
ju st draw ing on w alls,” says
C arolyn B o y d , h ead o f the
Shumla School, an archeologi
cal research center working with
state and federal agencies on the
project. “We have knowledge now
that these paintings are far more
than graffiti. And with knowledge
comes responsibility — a respon
sibility to take care o f it.”
Carbon dating shows the Pan
ther Cave paintings — a com
bined 150 feet wide and 13 feet
high — were made by prehistoric
Native Americans at the same
time the Egyptians were con
structing the pyramids. Som e
images have human character
istics, som e are unknown and
some are animal figures, includ
ing the cave’s unmistakable sig
nature 12-foot-long leaping red
panther. The animal guards the
hollowed out cavern overlook
ing the Rio G rande about 50
miles west o f Del Rio.
The two-week scanning pro
cess, extending into early June,
will eventually give researchers
a precise base line to track what
appears to be accelerated dete
rioration due to increased m ois
ture from the Am istad Reser
voir and insects building nests
or burrowing into the porous
limestone walls.
A camera about the size o f
a microwave oven passes over
a 6- to 10-inch square per scan,
collecting im ages accurate to
1mm. C olor photographs are
then overlaid on the images to
give researchers a clear picture
o f how the site has changed
over the centuries. Other images
taken with color-sensitive photo
equipment show parts o f the
paintings no longer visible.
“ It’s a powerful tool to see
how the site has changed,” said
C hristopher G oo d m aster, an
archaeologist and laser scanning
specialist.
G o o d m aste r conn ects his
equipment to a car battery for
power and collects the individual
images on a laptop computer.
Like building a puzzle, he said
he “ mosaics it together to make
sure we’re getting it all.”
The project is expected to
help researchers determine how
increased populations o f wasps
and environmental effects are
changing the paintings over the
years. Photos from earlier de
cades don’t show the wasp infil
tration, and som e researchers
speculate that the creation o f
the nearby Am istad Reservoir
has made it easier for the insects
to get their mud and make their
nests here. The gigantic reser
voir was created in 1969 when
dam m ing o f the Rio G rande
began flooding the steep can
yons.
“ I f you have one under your
h o u se , you take a p re ssu re
washer and whack it off,” said
Jack Johnson, a park archaeolo
gist for the Am istad National
Recreation Area. “You can’t do
that here.”
One wasp, known as a mud
dauber, builds pipe-like nests o f
mud that attach to the surface
o f the painted walls and harden
like concrete. I f and when the
nests fall, they can take the paint
with it. The second, called a blue
dauber, infiltrates the natural
holes in the limestone — smaller
than the circum ference o f a
drinking straw - for its nest and
then seals the hole with its plas
ter-like mud. When its offspring
emerges, it breaks through the.
plaster that also takes with it the
lim estone su rface — and the
paint — around the edge o f the
hole.
“ I just wish they’d go som e
where else,” Johnson said.
Before Amistad was built, the
floor o f Seminole Canyon was
about 300 feet below Panther
Cave. N ow the water is close.
Although visitors only can reach
the area by boat, they need to
only climb a couple steel stair
cases attached to a dock to see
it. The cave itself is corralled
by a tall chain link fence topped
by curled razor wire to deter
vandals or souvenir seekers.
The increased moisture from
the reservoir also contributes to
spalling, the weakening o f the
cave surface that causes it to
flake off.
Boyd believes the prehistoric
paint was made o f mineral pig
ments that gave it color and deer
or bison fat held it together. It
also may contain juice from
yucca plants. The paint was ap
plied with brushes o f animal
hair, feathers or fingers. Some
o f the images are extremely pre
cise, indicating sophisticated
m easuring devices were em
ployed.
Given the height o f the cave
and size o f some o f the paint
in gs, a fo rm o f sc a ffo ld in g
must have been used to reach
the upper levels, like the area
o f “ the big fat guy,” as Boyd
laughingly identified one human
like image to some o f her ar
chaeology students involved in
the project.
“ This one’s huge,” she ex
claimed. “ Look at him!”
For data collection purposes,
the figu re d e p icte d is now
know n as A n th ro p o m o rp h
0083-A064. H e’s 12 feet tall and
16 feet wide from the atlatl — a
spear thrower — in his right hand
to a pow er bundle o f spears
and a kind o f boomerang in his
left hand. He has adornments
on his elbow and wrist and what
looks like feathers at his hip.
He joins at least four pan
thers in the cave, painted with
shades o f red, brown, yellow
and black.
Widow sues over suicide
in Utah tribal artifacts case
SALT L A K E C ITY (AP) -
The widow o f a Blanding doc
tor who killed him self after
his arrest in a Utah ancient ar
tifacts theft case has filed a
wrongful death lawsuit against
two federal agencies.
The lawsuit, which Jeanne
Redd filed Friday in U.S. D is
trict Court in Salt Lake City,
claims the Bureau o f Land
M an agem en t and the F B I
pushed her husband, Jam es
Redd, to suicide through “ ex
cessive, overreaching and abu
sive treatment” o f him, the
D eseret N ew s o f Salt Lake
City reported.
Arm ed federal agents ar
rested the Redds along with
22 others on June 10, 2009,
after a two-year undercover
operation in the Four Corners
area o f southern Utah. Jam es
Redd was charged with one
felony count o f theft o f In
dian tribal property, specifi
cally an effigy bird pendant
worth $1,000.
Redd, 60, asphyxiated him
self by connecting a hose to
the exhaust pipe o f his car the
day after his arrest. Another
defendant, Steven Shrader,
also com m itted suicide in
2009. An undercover infor
mant for the government, Ted
Gardiner, later took his own
life.
The FB I declined to com
ment on the lawsuit. Calls to
the BLM were not returned.
Je a n n e R e d d ’s law su it
claim s that ag en ts “ m an
handled” her husband and in
terrogated him for hours at
their hom e, and that their
“ physical and psychological
assault” focused on his fam
ily, religion, profession and
community.
“ His final words connected
his death to the defendants’
egregious actions,” the com
plaint contends.
Redd, a father o f five, was
described in the complaint as
a religious man and a linchpin
in Blanding. He was well-liked
in the M orm on and Am eri
can Indian communities, ac
cording to the lawsuit.
The complaint, which also
brands the federal undercover
operation as overkill, seeks an
unspecified amount for emo
tional and punitive damages.
O f the 24 people arrested
in the raid, 18 have been
p laced on p ro b atio n after
reaching plea agreements.
A federal judge last month
terminated the remaining 18
m o n th s o f p ro b a tio n fo r
Jeanne Redd and the remain
ing six months o f probation
for her daughter, J erica Redd.
Both have paid fines in full
and complied with all condi
tions o f their probation, ac
cording to court records.
Shortly after the arrests,
U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and
Bob Bennett accused agents
o f going overboard in their
show o f force in the raid.
Utah’s top two federal law
enforcem ent officials at the
time said agents acted profes
sionally in executing search
US attorney in N ew Mexico hiring tribal prosecutor
Haskell Indian Nations
president to be announced
LA W R EN C E, Kan. (AP) -
An official says that the new
p re sid en t o f H ask ell Indian
Nations University in Lawrence
is expected to be announced
soon.
Larry Echo Hawk, the U.S.
Interior Departm ent’s assistant
secretary for Indian affairs, said
that he has com pleted inter
views for the Haskell post and
will “ soon ” make an appoint-
ment. Haskell is the nation’s only
four-year, federally run Ameri
can Indian college. It has about
1,000 students.
The Kansas City Star reports
that the school’s last president
was Linda Warner, who held the
job two years until September
2009, when she was sent to posts
in Arizona and Oklahoma. Five
interim presidents have run the
school since.
N.D. tribe says flooding
caused reservation disaster
B ISM A R C K , N.D. (AP) -
T he T h ree A ffiliated T ribes
chairman says winter snowfall
and heavy spring rainfall has
caused severe flooding on the
million-acre Fort Berthold Res
ervation in western N orth D a
kota
Tex Hall issued an executive
order last Friday declaring a
state o f disaster on the reser-
vation. Hall says flooding has
damaged homes and other build
ings on the reservation, which
incorporates six counties. He
says flooding also has caused
h ighw ays to ero d e and has
swamped farmland.
The disaster declaration is
aimed at getting federal aid to
repair damage from flooding.
Hawaii experts testify at
Native language hearing
H O N O L U L U (AP) - Three
educators from Hawaii are tes
tifying about Native language at
a U.S. Senate committee hear
ing on native language and cul
ture-based education.
Sen. D aniel A kaka’s office
said Thursday Nam aka Rawlins
o f the University o f Hawaii at
Hilo College o f Hawaiian Lan
g u ag e , A lv in P ark er o f a
W aianae ch arter sch o o l and
Shaw n
K a n a ia u p u n i
of
Kam ehameha Schools traveled
to Washington, D.C. to speak
before the Senate Com mittee
on Indian Affairs.
T he hearing is to explore
trends and achievements in na
tive language and culture-based
education including barriers and
strategies in meeting educational
needs o f students from native
communities.
Akaka says that out o f more
than 300 native languages once
spoken in the country only 175
remain and many are at risk o f
being lost.
A L B U Q U E R Q U E , N .M .
(AP) — The statistics are stagger
ing, but far from new: Three-
fifths o f N ative w om en have
been assaulted by their spouses
or intimate partners and one-
third o f Indian women will be
raped during their lifetimes.
In some tribal areas, Native
American women are murdered
at a rate more than 10 times the
national average, according to
fig u re s
fro m
Ju s tic e
D epartm en t’s O ffice o f V io
lence Against Women.
But after years o f what some
Indian women’s rights activists
say has largely been a lack o f
inaction by the authorities, U.S.
Attorney K en Gonzales is set to
announce the hiring o f a tribal
prosecutor as special assistant
U.S. attorney focused almost ex
clusively on domestic and sexual
assaults on tribal lands in New
Mexico.
It’s part o f a pilot program by
the Office o f Violence Against
Woman, G onzales’ office said,
that will give funding for the new
prosecutors to a handful o f U.S.
attorneys around the country.
“ I think a lot o f people will
be pleased to see this,” said
C o rrin e S an ch ez o f Tew a
Women United, an intertribal
group that was started as sup
p o rt grou p for w om en co n
cerned about issues that include
the high rates o f domestic and
sexual crimes. “There is still such
a huge lack o f prosecution on
the U.S. attorney’s side on sexual
assaults.”
Likewise, she said, there is a
lack o f tribal resources to deal
with the crimes, mistrust among
victims and the complications all
victims face when they are as
saulted or abused by a family
member or loved one.
“ It’s a multi-layered issue,”
she said. “Because there has been
this lack o f response there is still
a mistrust to report. People feel
nothing is being done.”
In an interview last week,
Gonzales said that the funding
is still being finalized but he plans
to announce next month the hir
ing o f David Adams, the tribal
p ro se c u to r fo r the L a g u n a
Pueblo west o f Albuquerque.
A dam s, he said, will work
with tribal authorities as well
social service groups to improve
law enforcement’s response to
domestic crimes and to try and
change the culture o f how such
crimes have been treated.
‘We are talking about a long
history o f this kind o f violence
and an unwillingness o f victims
to report it,” Gonzales said.
Adams will retain his title as
a tribal prosecutor, but he will
be d e p u tiz e d as a sp e c ia l
U.S.district attorney with all the
pow ers that accom pany that
position.
Although funded at the na
tional level, Adam ’s hiring fits
with a b ro a d e r fo c u s by
Gonzales — who was appointed
to the top federal law enforce
ment job in New Mexico just
over a year ago — to “ empower
com m unities” to fight crime,
whether it be rampant heroin
use in Española or drugs, cash
and gun smuggling across the
border.
Gonzales says that in addition
to being more aggressive in bat
tling domestic and sexual crimes
on tribal lands, he has tasked his
p r o se c u to r s to w ork m ore
closely with local enforcement
agen cies to use federal laws
against gang leaders and other
dangerous criminals when fed
eral law has the potential to bring
more serious penalties in a case.
‘W e have much more mean
ingful consequences on the fed
eral side than states have,” he
said. “ It’s not what we have in
mind for every gang banger out
there ... but when you can take
one or two (gang leaders) out
o f a sm all com m unity it can
have a big impact.”
Alaska Native remains from museum blessed, repatriated
FA IRBA N KS, Alaska (AP) -
The rem ains o f hundreds o f
Alaska Natives stored at a mu
seum were be blessed at a cer
emony last weekend, drawing at
tention to the repatriation pro
cess.
The ceremony was held Sat
urday at a park across from the
University o f Alaska Museum
o f the North.
Jim Whitney, manager o f the
UA museum archaeology collec
tion, said remains began arriv
ing at the museum in the 1920s,
largely through private donations
and discoveries during excava
tions.
He said the Fairbanks m u
seum has been w orking with
tribes to return the remains but
none had been returned since
2008.
E v e n t organ izer C andyce
Childers said the ceremony was
meant to draw attention to the
340 sets o f human remains still
in the museum’s possession.
Childers said she also hopes
the ceremony can spur repatria
tion at various museums in the
state. The repatriation process
has slowed in recent years, which
she attributes to a combination
o f bureaucracy and lack o f in
formation.
Adam Walsh Child Protection Act registration
By provision of the Adam
Walsh Child Protection and
Safety Act, the Confeder
ated Tribes are also publish
ing the sex offender regis
tration list.
A person is required to
register with the administra
tor if the person has been
convicted of a sex crime,
and resides or works in the
community, or visits here on a
monthly basis. This applies to
tribal and non-tribal members.
The sex offender registra
tion office phone number is
541-553-2214.
The administrator’s office is
located at 2146 Warm Springs
Street, Warm Springs (up
stairs in the tribal Court build
ing).
The following names are
added to the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs list of
registered offenders under the
Adam Walsh Child Protection
and Safety Act (name followed
by date of birth):
Lei Walker Calica, date of
birth 7/20/1980;
Buster Ray Isadore, date
of birth 4/8/1980;
Richard Ray Wesley,
date of birth 7/16/1971.
The sex offender registry
of the Confederated Tribes
of Warm Springs can be
viewed at the website:
www.warmsprings.nsopw.gov/
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