History In Mothballs

‘How dare they keep those materials?’

Bottom Line: In northern Nevada and southern Idaho, the Western Shoshone are waging a battle to reclaim their physical heritage.

The collection and storage of artifacts has been likened to “ethnic cleansing.”

Joseph Zummo

“How dare they keep those materials?” asked elder Kathleen Holley. “They belong to us, and they should not be kept in a building.”

A member of the Battle Mountain Band of the Te-Moak Western Shoshone, Holley had just seen a photograph of cartons at the Nevada State Museum, in Carson City. The photo, snapped in the museum’s Indian Hill Curatorial Center, shows shelves of boxes labeled “Tosawihi”—the sacred site in northern Nevada from which the contents were taken.

Tosawihi, said the photographer, Ted Howard—the cultural resources director of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe in northern Nevada and southern Idaho—is the spiritual heart of the Western Shoshone homeland.

“I cried when I saw the photograph,” said Colleen Burton, another Battle Mountain elder. “It’s sickening. I have been to meetings with federal agencies for years, and no one said they took those items. Why has no one ever come forward?”

The boxes—342 of them, according to the museum’s curator of anthropology, Gene Hattori—contain as many as 1.5 million items collected by Intermountain Research archaeologists in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They did so under the auspices of the Nevada Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to satisfy an aspect of preservation law while a gold mine was beginning operations in Tosawihi. Howard calls such projects “ethnic cleansing.”

“They take away the things that tie us to the land, so someday there will be no proof that we were here.”

The Holdings

The items came from areas that were to be utterly destroyed by gold mining, said Dr. Robert Elston, of Intermountain Research. They encompass mostly flakes (chips produced while working stone) and soil samples.

Additional articles are large stemmed spear points; a fluted Clovis-era point more than 12,000 years old; “hundreds or thousands” of additional finished and partially finished points and stone tools; elk antler tools; buffalo-scapula digging implements; and animal bones left from food consumption.

A pipeline project supervised by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the Tosawihi environs resulted in nearly 700,000 items being taken during 2010 and 2011. Flakes and soil samples dominate, along with 2,000-plus points, 8,000-plus implements, and hundreds of articles such as drills, mortars and pestles, and a massive stone bowl. They were also deposited in the state museum, where according to Hattori they take up 175 cubic feet.

In 2005 in northern Nevada, in the first year of a several-year U.S. Forest Service project, volunteers reportedly unearthed 2,000 points and other Native items—also at the state museum. Additional studies by the Forest Service, the BLM and other agencies have scooped up unimaginable numbers of indigenous materials in Nevada and elsewhere.

The bulk of collected materials, Elston said, are not taken for purposes of academic archaeology, but during agencies’ cultural resources reviews. These occur prior to a project that will affect or destroy the site, such as mining, pipeline construction or development. They then become the property of the federal government.

“That process is not designed to stop projects, but to facilitate them,” Elston said. He added that Natives who consulted on the Intermountain review advocated making the materials available for viewing by tribal members. He supports that position.

“An ancestor sat here,” said Joseph Holley, former chairman of the Battle Mountain Band, “and worked stone.” Joseph Zummo

Cherry-Picking the Law?

Howard accused the Nevada BLM and federal agencies of cherry-picking federal law as they conduct the reviews. He noted that Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA)—for which the Tosawihi-area studies were undertaken—relies on archaeological evidence, or the presence of objects, for eligibility for protection via the National Register of Historic Places. This “pushes aside” places not defined by objects, or which have been vandalized or excavated in a way that diminishes them for outsiders—though not necessarily for Native people, he said.

Howard noted that federal agencies must also comply with NHPA regulations that protect traditional landscapes that are subtly shaped by an array of cultural activities, executive orders and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act—which safeguards items of cultural patrimony as well as burials and grave goods.

Joseph Holley, former Battle Mountain chairman and now councilman, agreed. He criticized the scooping up of even seemingly minor items. Standing on a hilltop in Tosawihi, he indicated a scatter of flakes.

“An ancestor sat here and worked stone,” he said. “That tells us a great deal.” Holley called Tosawihi a cultural landscape: “Many activities occurred here, all aspects of which are significant.”

As early as 1991, the authors of another BLM study proposed that Tosawihi be placed on the National Register as a Traditional Cultural Property. The authors warned that the site needed protection against both mining and archaeology. They then invoked protections of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act for Tosawihi, saying that collecting has an impact on traditional religious beliefs.

A quarter of a century later, the struggle to understand the area as a traditional landscape continues. “The Nevada BLM conveniently misplaces anything that is contrary to its goal—support for the mining industry,” said Howard.

Despite the studies of Tosawihi, said Howard, many sites are still unrecorded and unprotected. “The BLM conveniently overlooked sites,” he charged. “The agency caters to industry, rather than obeying the law.”

Holley agreed. On a walk around the landscape, he pointed out unrecorded artifacts and sites. The visual record indicates, he said that a Class III survey—the most detailed available—“has never been done.” 

Whose History?

Losing contact with ancestral materials harms his people’s health and well being, said Holley.

“How are we going to pray in these places when they’ve been destroyed and their contents taken? How are we going to pass on our culture to our youth? How are they going to attach themselves to our identity?” He and Howard stressed that the artifacts represent a contemporary culture, not a “prehistoric” one.

Tribal youngsters agreed. “Our history is not taught in the Battle Mountain public schools,” said 15-year-old John Holley of the Battle Mountain Band. “Nothing. Not a word. When we are at Tosawihi, we can visualize and understand. It also changes our perception of what others tell us about our past.”

“They have no respect for what we believe in,” said Kiana Vance, 20. “The years they kept that material means a generation missed them. How can we have a future without a past?”

Another Battle Mountain youth, 17-year-old Evan Jim, criticized the entire cascade of events. “Mining is horrible,” he said. “As soon as you go to Tosawihi, you can feel it.” However, he did not support archaeologists taking items to “save” them. “What’s in boxes in the museum has to be returned to us, so it can be put back.”

Burton sees a large task ahead: “A lot of work and prayer will go into replacing the items where the ancestors intended them to be.” http://bit.ly/2dKnHY0

Day Of Confrontation

‘The similarities to Wounded Knee cannot be ignored’

Bottom Line: Violence escalated over the Dakota Access pipeline last week, with painful fallout all around.

There is no sign that tensions will cease between water protectors and police.

Courtesy Myron Dewey

The accounts are conflicting. But there is no arguing that Thursday, October 27 saw the largest, most violent clash yet between law-enforcement authorities and opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL).

Police deployed beanbag guns, noise concussion devices, and fire-extinguisher-sized canisters of tear gas and mace. In the end, 141 people were arrested.

The police action on Highway 1806, about three miles from the Cannonball River, began shortly before noon, when a large contingent of heavily armed officers worked to clear a route for pipeline trenches in a relentless push that yielded numerous confrontations. Events culminated in the seizure of the newly established Treaty Camp and the removal of a number of tents, tipis and sweat lodges.

“Officers met violence and resistance including a protester who fired a gun at officers in the police line, protesters who threw Molotov cocktails at them and set vehicles and debris on fire,” the Morton County Sheriff’s Department said.

State spokesperson Cecily Wong described a woman who drew a .38 caliber pistol and fired three times at officers, according to the Associated Press. But activists dispute the account, which was not recorded on any of the on-the-scene video or live feeds that currently circulating.

There were many firsthand reports, conveyed via Facebook live feeds, social media posts and other dispatches.

“A man bearing an assault rifle broke thru [sic] a barricade and was speeding toward the Oceti Sakowin camp, he was run off the road 1/4 mile north from the Camp,” the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stated on its Facebook page. “The man exited the vehicle where he appeared to be disguised as a water protector. He than fired several shots from his assault rifle. Tribal Law Enforcement responded, the man was then apprehended. Insurance documents from the vehicle reveal that it is owned by Dakota Access pipeline.”

“Over 300 police officers in riot gear, 8 ATVs [all-terrain vehicles], 5 armored vehicles, 2 helicopters, and numerous military-grade Humvees showed up north of the newly formed frontline camp just east of Highway 1806,” read a statement by the Camp of the Sacred Stones, one of three prayer camps set up near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. “The 1851 Treaty Camp was set up this past Sunday directly in the path of the pipeline, on land recently purchased by DAPL. Today this camp, a reclamation of unceded Lakota territory affirmed as part of the Standing Rock Reservation in the Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1851, was violently cleared. Both blockades established this past weekend to enable that occupation were also cleared.”

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II blasted the police tactics.

Jesus Wagner was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. Twitter/Harsha Walia

“We have repeatedly seen a disproportionate response from law enforcement to water protectors’ nonviolent exercise of their constitutional rights,” he said. “Today we have witnessed people praying in peace, yet attacked with pepper spray, rubber bullets, sound and concussion cannons. We urge state and federal government agencies to give this tense situation their immediate and close attention.”

He noted that DAPL parent company Energy Transfer Partners had ignored the Obama administration’s request to voluntarily halt construction while the legal issues raised by the tribe were resolved. “By deploying law enforcement to support DAPL construction, the State of North Dakota is collaborating with Energy Transfer Partners and escalating tensions,” Archambault said. “We need our state and federal governments to bring justice and peace to our lands, not the force of armored vehicles.”

Archambault also emphasized peaceful opposition. “Any act of violence hurts our cause and is not welcome here,” he said. “We invite all supporters to join us in prayer that, ultimately, the right decision—the moral decision—is made to protect our people, our sacred places, our land and our resources.”

“President Obama had asked that work stop within 20 miles of river yet National Guard were used to clear the way,” wrote Dallas Goldtooth, organizer of the Keep It in the Ground movement with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “DAPL security forces were part of the invasion. They had armed men with AR-15s and had malicious intent to sneak into the camp.”

Goldtooth also said that men and women had been pulled out of a sweat lodge ceremony at gunpoint. “The similarities to Wounded Knee cannot be ignored,” he wrote. “There was potential last night to turn a peaceful protest into a major tragedy.” And, he added, “Horseback riders were attacked by police on ATVs resulting in one horse being hurt so severely that it had to be put down. There were national guard Humvees on site with snipers stationed on top.”

“They sprayed me with my hands up and my back to them, with all my medic markings clearly showing,” said a medical work in a Facebook posting by the Standing Rock Medic & Healer Council. “They sprayed me head to toe,” “They pointed shotguns at me. They pointed shotguns at my back while I was treating patients.”

Many activists and protectors described feelings of nausea, lightheadedness and sickness after returning to the camps near Standing Rock. “My heart hurts,” wrote Jon Eagle Sr., Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. “I can’t believe what I witnessed today and it’s still going on. Prayers for the protectors tonight.”

Amid the chaos, there was at least one uplifting moment. At one point, “We all turned to the east to see a herd of buffalo come charging,” Eagle said. “Behind them were young warriors on horse back. Police in ATV’s charged after them. There were shots fired. The young men rode through the line of ATVs and made their getaway.

“A war cry went up from the crowd.” http://bit.ly/2fojdf6

Bracing For Winter

‘It’s time to prepare’

Bottom Line: Few expected that opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline would extend into the holiday season. But now that it has, the water protectors are buckling down.

Jim Northrup III from the Fond du Lac Ojibwe reservation in Minnesota brought tipi and lodge poles to the Sacred Stone Camp.

Mary Annette Pember

LaDonna Bravebull Allard was shucking corn that had been drying at Sacred Stone Camp, one of the water protector camps opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline near Standing Rock. Women of a certain age seemed compelled to join her. Wordlessly, they set up camp chairs and seized pieces of the corn, twisting the dried kernels free of their cobs.

They fell into a rhythm, seated in a summer sun that was quickly moving into fall.

“Yes, it’s time to prepare for winter,” Allard said. “The cold weather comes fast in North Dakota, and once here it stays for a long time.”

Preparations have begun for the cold weather that is serious business on the plains, where winter temperatures can dip to minus 35 degrees and winds can gust up to 100 mph.

“I was gathering together all the balaclavas and pilot-cap winter hats that were donated, and one of the volunteers said, ‘Oh, we don’t need those, do we?’ I told her, ‘Oh yes we do,’” Allard said.

Although the number of residents at the various water protector camps has fallen from the summer’s high, several hundred still remain. Exact numbers are difficult to nail down and vary widely, camp leaders say. Camp populations grow over the weekends, when people come out for a couple of days to show support.

One young Native woman from Arizona came with a group of 35 people from various southwestern tribes who were committed to staying through the winter. “We are here for the duration, but we don’t really know what to expect,” she said, laughing nervously.

It is unclear exactly where campers will stay over the winter. According to Forum News Service the main camp, Oceti Sakowin, is located on land that is flood-prone and provides little protection from the wind. In addition, the land is prone to drifting snow. Standing Rock Sioux tribal Chairman Dave Archambault II said that talks about relocating the main camp are under way.

Shucking corn has begun well in advance of the bitterly cold weather. Mary Annette Pember

“I’m concerned about the safety of the people,” he said. “When it gets cold in North Dakota, people don’t realize it gets 35 below zero. . . and that’s not just for one day. It can last for a week. Camping in a tent is not realistic.”

Cody Hall (Cheyenne River Tribe), a leader at the Red Warrior Camp, said that many people want to remain in the main encampment. Archambault, however, wants to ensure that there is a plan if it is moved. “We want to make sure the community is okay with this,” he said.

For the time being, preparations for the long haul are under way. James Northrup III (Ojibwe from the Fond du Lac Reservation) is building several traditional Ojibwe waaginogaans—domed lodges made from yellow birch and ash tree poles. They measure about 35 feet long by 15 feet high.

Northrup, a cultural resource teacher, has brought several truckloads of poles to build the lodges. They are insulated with various donated materials available at the camp and, if properly constructed, are waterproof. “We put tarp as the final covering over the lodge but have to keep it pulled tight so the wind can’t get a hold of it,” he said. “It will stay really warm if we have a fire, but if we invite Grandfather Fire inside, we have to ensure there is a hole for him to exit too.”

This traditional knowledge has been joined by modern technology. Two solar power developers—Wahleah Johns (Navajo Nation) of Black Mesa Solar Project and Barrett Rafferty of GivePower—recently visited the camps to assess energy needs. They met with Allard and Northrup with the idea of providing solar panels that could provide power for such devices as refrigerators and computers.

“Our people survived here,” Allard said. “There are still some of us left who remember what our ancestors taught us.” http://bit.ly/2dMavXu

How Did I Miss That?

Fast-food venison, flavorless tomatoes and chunkey stones

The Washington Post reported on a scientific study about the reasons for what it calls “a truth universally acknowledged”—namely, that commercial tomatoes have no flavor. It turns out that the culprit is refrigeration. You can have the tomatoes last a long time, or you can have them taste good, but both things at once are not happening with current technology.

My cousin Ray Sixkiller wanted to know where the scientists who did this research came from. The answer was Cornell University and the University of Florida in the U.S. and Zhejiang University in China.

Cousin Ray harrumphed that his mother had enough sense not to put tomatoes in the fridge and that she never went to a university.

* * *

Last week, I reported that only two daily newspapers had endorsed Donald Trump in the entire nation, both called the News-Press—one published in California and the other in Missouri. Since then Trump support has, relatively speaking, snowballed; the Ashland, Ohio Times-Gazette has now recommended The Donald, as did the Antelope Valley, California Press. The biggest endorsement so far is that of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, recently purchased by a mystery owner who turned out to be casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.

Trump became an Indian fighter in the first place to destroy Indian casino competition. Maybe he’s not the only casino owner willing to spend money to shut off Indian gaming.

* * *

The Cherokee Phoenix reported that the Cherokees for Standing Rock and the Mankiller Flats Water Protectors were due to begin a round robin stickball tournament titled “Stickball for Standing Rock” on the grounds of the Cherokee Nation Male Seminary Recreation Center in Tahlequah. Men’s and women’s teams will play each other until the men’s team with the most wins and the women’s team with the most wins will meet for the championship. Team entry fees are $50.

Those who think the men’s team is bound to emerge as champion do not watch much stickball.

* * *

I ran across a hot rumor of interest to persons of my tribal customs that turned out to be unlikely but true. The dominant roast beef joint, Arby’s, is about to offer a venison sandwich. The offer is limited by geography and by time, so it’s not like higher protein/lower fat/better taste is suddenly taking over. But it has to start somewhere.

* * *

If venison and stickball were not enough good news, the Phoenix also reported that Cherokee citizen Jim Cosby is resurrecting a traditional game called chunkey, thought to be lost in the mists of time.

Cosby owned a chunkey stone as a family heirloom and it’s being used as a model to create more. Cosby and his people are also making the eight-foot spears that are used in the game as the chunkey stone is rolled downfield and the players vie to be closest to where the stone stops without hitting it.

They have started a Facebook page, “Cherokee Chunkey Players,” and hope to incorporate the ancient game into the traditional games section of the Cherokee National Holiday.

* * *

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America published a study of the effects of climate change on wildfires in the western U.S. John T. Abatzolglouof the University of Idaho and A. Park Williams of Columbia University concluded that climate change has contributed to almost half of the losses from wildfires between 1984-2015.

Cousin Ray was reading the conclusion that “anthropogenic climate change will continue to chronically enhance the potential for western US forest fire activity while fuels are not limiting.” He wanted an English translation. I told him “anthropogenic” means that humans caused it and that lack of fuel will limit the fires when the forest is gone.

Cousin Ray guessed that the good news is there will be work for Indian fire crews, but he gave science-speak a shot when he said the loss of habitat would disrupt the food chain. http://bit.ly/2ePb2aY