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AUGUST 1, 2001
Smoke Signals 11
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Makah Whalers Allowed to Hunt Again
NEAH BAY, WA. (AP) - The
federal government has reaffirmed
the right of Makah Indians to hunt
gray whales and is easing restric
tions in popular hunting areas in
cluding the coastlines of Oregon
and Washington.
After a court-ordered review, the
National Marine Fisheries Service
said the hunting will be allowed to
continue because of the
government's treaty obligation and
healthy population of gray whales.
Furthermore, the agency said
there is no reason to restrict hunt
ing to the Pacific Ocean in the mi
gration period from November
through June.
The Tribe may hunt gray whales
in the Strait of Juan de Fuca near
its reservation.
Tribal hunting resumed in 1998
after seven decades, and one whale
was killed in May 1999.
Anti-whaling activists hoped the
review would result in more re
strictions, but the government
came up with fewer.
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Chief Seattle's Grave Rededicated
After Repair of Vandals' Damage
SUQUAMISH, WA. Chief Seattle's grave has been rededicated, two
months after vandals knocked a marble cross off the top of the 90 year-old
monument.
More than 100 people gathered recently at the burial site here on the Port
Madison Indian Reservation northwest of Bainbridge Island.
The ceremony was designed to heal the wounds the May desecration in
flicted on the spirits of Chief Seattle and his ancestors in the Suquamish and
Duwamish Tribes.
"When there's a desecration, there's a disturbance," said Al Scott Johnnie,
Cultural Director for the Lummi Tribe. "This is healing for our people."
Tribal leaders suspect the vandals were making a statement opposing plans
for low-income housing on the reservation. Investigators found a newspa
per article about the project at the scene, said Scott Crowell, the Suquamish
Tribe's Acting Executive Director.
No arrests have been made. The FBI is investigating the case.
Born in the 1780s, Chief Seattle led the Suquamish and Duwamish Tribes
as whites settled in the area. He and 80 other Indian leaders ceded Puget
Sound to the United States in the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott.
Settlers showed their gratitude by naming their frontier town after him.
"A friend to the whites" is engraved in his headstone.
The chief, baptized by Catholic missionaries, died at the Port Madison res
ervation in 1866.
Many Kitsap County residents and businesses pitched in to help restore
the monument. Steel rods have been drilled into the white, Italian marble.
Broken pieces from the three foot-tall cross have been glued together. The
stone has been polished and cleaned.
But there are still open wounds.
"The fractures in this cross have been repaired but I don't know what we
can do to fix the fractures in this community," Suquamish Tribal Chairman
Bennie Armstrong told a recent gathering, which included many Elders.
Armstrong noted Chief Seattle's willingness to share the Tribe's culture.
"It's the practice of tolerance we need between our cultures now."
G.I. James, one of Chief Seattle's descendants and a Tribal Liaison to King
County Executive Ron Sims, said: "It's not just his grave they were desecrat
ing, but his ideal."
Structures in New Mexico may be Ancient Homes of American Indian Family
.CIMARRON, N.M. (AP) Arche
ologists have found two rock struc
tures that may have been seasonal
residences used by an American In
dian family more than a thousand
years ago.
If carbon dating confirms a com
mon time frame for the two struc
tures, archaeologist Warren Lail
said he will study whether they were
used by the same nomadic Anasazi
Indian family.
Lail, a doctoral candidate from the
TJniversity of Oklahoma, found the
structures last year under mounds of
dirt near Cimarron, in Northern New
Mexico. Recently, a team under his
leadership finished 24 days of exca
vations at one of the shelters, located
on the Boy Scouts-owned Philmont
Scout Ranch.
The circular house that was exca
vated was more than 16 feet in diam
eter with rock walls that once stood
about 5 feet high, Lail said. He said
the building may date back to A.D.
700.
When examining the structure's
walls on July 1 1, the team found char
coal, which can be subjected to car
bon dating to determine the age of the
dwelling. Smoke from fires set inside
the structure was thought to have
deposited the charcoal on the walls.
Lail and Don Wyckoff, Associate
Professor of Anthropology at the Uni
versity of Oklahoma, said the house
was probably a seasonal shelter used
only in the fall, when hunting was
good and acorns and nuts could be
harvested in the area.
The excavating team of about a
dozen students found blackened pot
tery fragments and grinding stones
in the structure. The grinding stones
have polished surfaces, indicating
they were used to grind acorns, nuts
and possibly corn, said Lail.
Jon Young, an Archaeologist retired
from the U.S. Forest Service, agreed
the suspected autumn structure was
probably seasonal. But he doubted
it dates back to A.D. 700.
"My guess is under 1,000 years old,"
Young said after visiting the site.
But Lail, 50, said the house likely
predates A.D. 850, because that's
when Anasazi Indians moved down
stream along the Ponil Creek and
became corn growers.
"If it were A.D. 900, they'd be in a
pit house. They wouldn't be living
here," said Lail.
Next summer, Lail plans to dig out
the second structure. Located about
200 feet higher atop a nearby mesa,
the dwelling was probably warmer
than the first house because it's more
exposed to the sun.
"I suspect they were up there in the
winter," he said.
If he determines that the structures
were autumn and winter homes, Lail
plans to look for spring and summer
residences, putting together "the sea
sonal round."
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EDUCATION SEMINAR
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Learn about credit reports, financing a home and
whether you may be a candidate for homeownerhip.
Tuesday, August 7 6:30 to 9 pm
Tribal Community Center
For more information and pre-registration
contact Nancy Holmes at
503-879-2445 or 1-800-422-0232, ext. 2445
Sponsored by the Grand Ronde Tribal Housing Authority
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