New England Antiquities Research Association

 

Mohicans Oversee Dig Into Their Past

Reprinted from the New York Sun Times

by Rhea Davis

 

 

September 15, 2003

 

Tribal members assist archaeologists at Bethlehem site where 700-year-old Indian remains were found.

 

Archaeologists spent last week through the remains of a Mohican burial site that was unearthed when construction crews were installing a water pipe near Henry Hudson Park.

The 700-year-old remains appear to be those of two adults and several children, said Edward Curtin, a Saratoga Springs-based archaeologist who is working on the site.

The cause of the deaths remains a mystery, but experts say disease is most likely. Four Native American volunteers from the tribe are assisting the team of five archaeologists in recovering the bones, which were unearthed last month, and other artifacts from the area.

Sherry White, a cultural preservation officer for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans, flew to New York earlier this month from Wisconsin to oversee the excavation. She said assisting in the dig has filled her with mixed emotions.

"It's really hard to see our ancestors dug up like this," she said. "But it is an awfully good feeling to be a part of putting them back in an area where they will never be disturbed again."

Curtin said it is unusual for Native Americans from the tribe to assist archaeologists in a dig, but having the volunteers present has made the experience deeply rewarding. He said it has been difficult to conclude how many people were buried on the site because the remains were disrupted by a back hoe and in some cases thrown into mounds of soil.

After the remains are recovered, they will be reburied in a location close to the original burial ground.

Mohicans are traditionally buried with their heads to the south, their bodies facing east and their legs drawn to their chests, said Floyd Brewer, a retired professor at the University at Albany, who spent 12 years digging and chronicling remains and artifacts in the field a few feet from where the latest remains were found.

Brewer said that during his research in the 1980s, he found nine skeletons and many artifacts from different phases of Indian life.

Brewer, who was one of the first people on the scene after the bones were discovered, said returning to the site was an emotional experience.

"To think those kids would die and then one day be exhumed so many years later in the presence of the natives that followed them hundreds of years later is really powerful," he said.

The Mohicans inhabited the land near the Hudson River about 1,000 years ago. The tribe's history has been marked by disease, wars and numerous relocations. The arrival of Henry Hudson in 1609 led to the displacement of the tribe after numerous wars over trade broke out in the middle of the century.

The tribe was relocated to Massachusetts in the 1800s, then to Indiana and finally settled on a reservation in central Wisconsin, where many still live today.

Curtin said that because the area where the bones were found is considered a historical site, he was interested in looking into the legality of the construction that exposed the bones.

Bruce Secor, Bethlehem commissioner of Public Works, said the city had done testing in the mid-1990s to make sure the area was safe to install the water pipe that broke in August. He said the city received a green light from a team of archaeologists to dig in the area.

The tribe and the town are working together to pay the team of archaeologists. Because the work is still in process and a completion date has not been finalized, the cost of the project has not yet been decided. The remains are being housed in the State Museum until they can be reburied.

Jessica Schreyer, project director at the site, said she felt honored and excited to be part of the dig. She loved being able to use archaeological techniques to systematically remove the remains and then prepare them for reburial.

The team hopes to wrap up work on the dig this week but it remains uncertain when and where the remains will be reburied. 

 

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