The Maine Indian Tribal State Commission plans to propose legislation that would ban American Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery from schools in Maine, and is seeking the support of the Maine Human Rights Commission in its effort.

Tribal commission chair Jaimie Bissonette Lewey describes the effort as a “civil rights and human rights struggle with schools in the southern part of the state,” and told the Bangor Daily News this week that the legislation would be written and sponsored by Wayne T. Mitchell, a nonvoting member of the Maine Legislature representing the Penobscot Nation.

The proposal seeks to eliminate the use of such nicknames as Redskins, Warriors and Braves, and identifies eight schools in the state that still use such Indian-related nicknames, including Nokomis (Warriors) of Newport, Skowhegan (Indians) and Southern Aroostook (Warriors) of Dyer Brook high schools in eastern Maine as well as Sanford (Redskins), Wiscasset (Redskins) and Wells (Warriors) high schools and Strong (Indians) Elementary School in western Maine.

If members of the state’s American Indian communities find these names offensive — and I’d certainly agree with Redskins, though it’s ironic that it also remains the nickname of the NFL team in our nation’s capital — then certainly one option is to eliminate them, as this latest Indian-based initiative seeks.

But in some cases there still may be room for compromise with both cultural and educational benefits for all sides.

One of the eight schools named, the Beatrice Rafferty School on the Passamaquoddy Reservation at Pleasant Point between Perry and Eastport, calls its teams the Indians but is not being targeted by the proposed legislation, Lewey said, because the Indian mascot and imagery are not used in an offensive way.

So rather than just taking a clear-cut approach to the rest of the schools, allow them the option of following the Rafferty School’s lead and work with tribal members to make whatever changes to their mascots and imagery are needed so the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission and others won’t find them offensive while continuing to promote the local Indian history and culture that led to the naming of such schools as Nokomis and such communities as Skowhegan.

My guess is that those schools and communities might find working toward such a compromise not worth the hassle of continuing to be targeted as politically incorrect or uncaring, but it seems here not a bad alternative — particularly when even the proposed legislation is sought to be applied somewhat selectively and subjectively.

But addressing offensive elements of the school mascot issue while seeking to help preserve the visibility of Maine’s Indian culture might be a valuable learning experience for everyone in the long run.

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Norse statues installed above L’Anse aux Meadows historical site, Newfoundland and Labrador

A new study suggests that some Icelanders may be direct descendants of a Native American woman.  If this is true, then the Vikings in fact had substantive contact with Native Americans, an unestablished hypothesis until now, and were the first people to bring a Native American to Europe.

The Vikings settled Iceland in the 9th century, and it is now a country of a little fewer than 300,000 people.  Since that time, the Icelandic gene pool has remained largely homogenous as a result of long-term isolation.  That, combined with Iceland’s meticulous record keeping of its people’s genealogy, makes studying and verifying Icelanders’ genetic make-up an alluring draw to researchers interested in genetic studies.

One such researcher recently published a study in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, analyzing the DNA of Icelanders to determine that “a mysterious . . . . DNA sequence (that we name the C1e lineage). . . , carried by more than 80 Icelanders, can be traced through the female line to four ancestors born in Iceland around 1700.  There is good reason to believe that the C1e lineage arrived in Iceland several hundreds of years before 1700.”

The C1e lineage can be found in both Native Americans and East Asian populations.  However, it is more than likely that the C1e lineage found in Icelanders is linked to Native Americans and that this link was created as far back as the year 1000 A.D. when the Vikings settled in Newfoundland.

The study notes:

Around the year 1000 A.D., five hundred years before Christopher Columbus is said to have discovered America, Vikings had in fact discovered and tried to colonize the continent.  Remains of buildings from this period, with evidence of temporary occupation by Vikings, have been found at L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.  However, there is no direct evidence of contact between the Vikings and Native Americans – i.e. that they actually met.  Our findings raise the possibility that there was in fact contact between the Icelandic Vikings and the Native Americans which led to a Native American woman carrying the C1e lineage . . . being brought to Iceland.  If this is the case, then the contemporary Icelanders carrying the C1e lineage would be descended through the direct female line from the first Native American to travel to Europe.

The Vikings apparently stayed in Newfoundland for three to ten years.  If the Icelanders in the study can be traced to a Native American woman, then several additional questions arise that the study does not pose.  For example, did any of the Vikings remain in North America after the settlers left Newfoundland?  Did the Vikings settle anywhere else in North America?  And if so, did they stay for a longer period of time?  Many researchers believe that the Vikings established settlements along the eastern shores of North America and as far north as the Canadian Arctic.  If that is the case, a more prevalent link between the Vikings and Native Americans may exist.

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Historically, Native American baskets were used by Indians to carry or store their belongings. Many American Indians were at least semi nomadic. In order to more efficiently move their possessions from one spot to another, baskets were often used. Even sedentary tribes made use of baskets to store and protect their food and valued items. Native American baskets were, and are, made out of a wide variety of materials. The artists used available materials such as pine needles, birch bark, willow wood, and river cane to make baskets.

Far from being a forgotten art, Native American basket weaving is alive and well today. Indian artists use their own creativity to produce beautiful works of woven art while keeping to design tradition. Although originally basically functional, the baskets were always made with an eye for beauty. The very shapes are soothing to behold.

Indian basket weavers generally use one of several techniques to make baskets. Coiling is one of the most commonly used techniques in basket making. Coiling is often used to make baskets out of pine needles or grass. As the artist works, designs can be integrated into the basket, making it a unique and special item. The Indians of the southwest have used the wicker method of basket making. Both Sumac and Willow switches are generally the materials of choice when making wicker baskets. Besides the baskets themselves, wicker plaques are made for use in ceremonies. These basket plaques are bright and cheerful, featuring many traditional designs.

No matter the size of basket, they are stunning to behold.

When decorating in a rustic or southwestern style, a Native American basket will definitely add a decorative touch. A beautiful woven or coiled basket, made by a skilled Indian artisan, will be a valued addition to any room. Dramatic displays can be created not only with baskets, but with basket plaques. These plaques can be used as a visual focal point on a wall, much like paintings might be used. The tradition and culture of Native Americans can be brought into any home with the baskets made by skilled Indian men and women. What better way to enliven your home decorating than with a product of Native American imagination and skill.

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Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The stunning landscape of this park is the main draw, but hidden amidst the colorful mesas and canyons are numerous petroglyphs (carving in rock) and pictograms (paintings on rock). The best are in Horseshoe Canyon, where a large panel of ghostly painted figures have been variously interpreted as gods, ancestors or, by the scientifically challenged, aliens. They date to as far back as 2000 BC.

Nine Mile Canyon, Utah
One of the best sites for petroglyphs in all the Southwest is billed as the “world’s longest art gallery”. With about 10,000 images ranging in date from 950 AD to the 1800s, it is the biggest concentration of rock art ever found in the U.S. The remains of the homes of the Fremont people are clearly visible when hiking the canyon. The images include bison being stuck with spears, strange horned figures that may be shamen, and men on horseback dating to the historic period.

Saguaro National Park West, Arizona
The rock art here isn’t as grand as the other places on the list, but it’s far more accessible. Just a short drive from Tucson and only two hours from Phoenix, the park takes its name from the forest of giant saguaro cacti that grow here. There are two parks–one to the west and one to the east of town–and the one to the west has a rocky hill covered in carvings made by the Hohokam people. The most unusual is a strange spiral that may have been an early calendar. The Hohokam built large towns and extensive canal systems in southern Arizona until about 1450 AD. In fact, the modern cities of Phoenix and Tucson were founded by the Hohokam!

Petroglyph National Monument
Another easily accessible location, this national monument is right on the western edge of Albuquerque. You can see just how close from the above photo, courtesy Daniel Schwen. There are about 24,000 images here, mostly from prehistoric Pueblo peoples starting about 500 AD but also some made by Spanish settlers who saw all the pictures on the rocks and decided to add their own. Some are even the cattle brands of the early ranchers.

Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona
We’ve talked about this amazing set of cliff dwellings before. Located in the heart of the Navajo Nation, prehistoric peoples built extensive villages here in the shadows of towering cliffs until their mysterious disappearance in the 14th century. As you wander the trails you’ll see petroglyphs of animals and people scattered about the rocks. If you have kids, playing “spot the picture” can be a fun way to keep them entertained. The jaw-dropping scenery will probably do that anyway. Note that the interpretive center is closed for remodeling until May 2011.

While desert scenes aren’t exactly the first thing you think of during the Christmas season, winter is a good time to explore these sites. The scorching sun takes a vacation, and in the higher altitude the desert can be downright cold!

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Sonoma County, also known as the wine country, and its total of approximately 1,800 square miles was officially founded in 1850. However, the area’s scenic beauty, rich soil, hospitable year-round climate and easy access to ocean and river fishing as well as plentiful hunting grounds attracted inhabitants for many centuries. The Pomo, the Coast Miwok, the Patwin and the Wappo Indian tribes were its earliest known and documented inhabitants dating as far back as 8,000 BC. And these early Native American Indian tribes who enjoyed their prosperous lives in peace and harmony until European settlers, most specifically the Spaniards, arrived in the 19th century.

The Pomo Indians …

The Pomo Indians were actually comprised of seventy smaller tribes each with its own language and distinct territory within the region. What quite literally wove them all together was their art – the art of basket weaving practiced by both men and women. Everything about their life styles, their cultures and their livelihoods were directly connected to their baskets and revolved around their crafting. The seventy basket making tribes of the Pomo Indians all utilized similar materials, used the same techniques and derived at shapes which were quite alike.

The Pomo Indians were invaded in the 18th century by brutal Russian fur-traders and, with the discovery of gold in 1848, by Americans. Their population was greatly reduced by murderous massacres, forced and debilitating labor as well as the white man’s diseases. Due to the American Indian Reservations and Trust Areas of 1996, today’s Pomo Indians acquired a federally protected reservation.

The Coast Miwok Indians …

The Coast Miwok Indians made the region that we now call Sonoma County home for over five thousand years until they were captured and forced into slave labor by early Spanish colonists at the close of the 18th century.

From the 600 villages uncovered in the area, archeologists learned that the Coast Miwok had an extraordinarily abounding and intricate culture that included hunting for large game and birds, fishing, gathering of acorns and processing them, making baskets and beads, as well as ritualistic ceremonies that incorporated dancing and music. The language of the Coast Miwok Indians was unusually elaborate and extremely complicated.

The Patwin Indians …

The Patwin Indians are one of five other tribes (the Ululatos, the Libaytos, the Malacas, the Tolenas and the Suisunes) within the larger Wintum group who lived in the Sonoma Valley area for approximately four thousand years until they too were brutalized by the invading Spaniards in the 1800s.

The Patwin Indians are best characterized as keepers and tellers of local myths, far-reaching legends, tall tales and oral histories of their own families and the community at large. The Patwins strongly believed that their spiritual leaders, the shamans, were able to speak with the dead and heal the ailing.

The Wappo Indians …

The Wappo Indians inhabited the general territory that is now Sonoma County and sustained their livelihood and rich traditions by hunting and gathering off the abundance provided by the land, and their beautifully crafted baskets were constructed so well that they could hold water indefinitely.

The entire Wappo nation was forcefully baptized and absorbed into the various local Spanish missions.

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I am trying to track down the history of “Indian” team names among professional sports teams in North America.  I am particularly interested in the period before 1897 when the success of major league outfielder Louis Sockalexis, the travelling Nebraska Indians baseball team, and the baseball and football teams of the Carlisle Indian School produced an equation in many American’s minds between athletic success and Native American ethnicity.

I know that many, mostly amateur, pre-1876 nines used Indian names for their clubs–I am relying upon Marshall Wright’s list of clubs in his history of baseball before 1870 for this assertion–and that most 19th-century nicknames for professional clubs were unofficial. (The incorporation of the territorial exclusivity principle into professional baseball in 1876 made team names less necessary, since there could be only one Boston team in the National League or, for that matter, only one New Castle, Pennsylvania team in the minor-league Iron and Oil Association.)

Based upon the information on team names in the Baseball America’s Minor League Encyclopedia, 3rd ed., it appears that the practice of identifying professional baseball teams by Indian names largely began in 1887 (interestingly, during the season following the passage of the Dawes Act in February 1887).  That year, one finds teams like the Oneida Indians, the Wichita Braves, the Springfield (Mo.) Indians, the Fort Smith Indians, the Scranton Indians, and the Zanesville Kickapoos.

(I don’t count the London (Ont.) Tecumsehs of the International Association of 1877 and 1878 as a team with a Native American name, because that club was named after an individual Native American who was at the time treated as a Canadian national hero.  Portraits of Tecumseh in a red British general’s uniform were not uncommon in 19th-century Canada.)

It is easy to understand why Indian names would be attached to teams in towns like Oneida and Wichita since those are tribal names as well as city names.  I suppose that in the 1880’s places like Springfield, Missouri and Fort Smith, Arkansas were still close enough to their frontier origins (and to Indian Territory) that people might still associate Native Americans with those communities.

However, I have no idea why a team in Scranton would be called the Indians, especially since the same team was also referred to as the Miners, which makes sense given that Scranton was so closely linked to the anthracite coal industry.

I do know that local histories of Scranton in the late 19th century emphasized that the land on which the city was situated had been purchased by William Penn from the Delaware Indians (and Scranton’s county has an Indian name, Lackawanna), but presumably similar stories could be told for most American communities.  Perhaps there been an earlier, amateur club in Scranton called the “Indian Baseball Club” and the name somehow got attached to the town’s first professional team.

Most baffling is the team known as the Zanesville Kickapoos.  The Kickapoo were a real tribe, but by the 1880’s they had long been relocated to the west.  Moreover, their Midwestern base had been in western Indiana, not eastern Ohio, and there is, as far as I can tell, no reason to associate them with Zanesville.  Maybe it was a hidden reference to the team’s penchant for “kicking” (complaining), or possibly local sportswriters thought the name sounded funny and thus adopted it.  But that is just a guess.

Rosters for the 1887 Scranton and Zanesville teams can be found in the Baseball-Reference.com database, but none of the players on those teams have obviously Native American names.

On a related note, one of the truly bizarre team names in the history of minor league baseball is the Terre Haute Hottentots.  (Hottentot is a European-coined term for certain native tribal groups in southwestern Africa, and its usage is almost always viewed as derogatory.)

The name became associated with the Terre Haute team when it returned to the professional ranks in the early 1890’s.  It was apparently used to describe all of Terre Haute’s entries in various mid-western leagues until 1910 when the team name was changed to “Stags.”  However, the Hottentot name was revived in 1921 as “Tots” and was used continuously until the Terre Haute franchise went out of business after the 1937 season.

I can find nothing that discusses the origins of the name, or how it came to be attached to the Terre Haute team.  However, my suspicion is that it refers in a good-humored, racist way to the Terre Haute team’s previous employment of noted black baseball players Bud Fowler and Moses Fleetwood Walker.  Fowler played with the team in 1888, and Walker, a former major-league catcher, participated in the 1890 pre-season, but apparently did not play in any regular season games.

Moreover, “Hottentot” sounds a little bit like “Haute and Terra” and there is a certain alliterative quality to “Terre Haute Hottentots.”  Such things may have passed for humor in late 19th-century Indiana.

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Asian Americans share much in common with our Native American Indian and Alaskan brothers and sisters, not just in terms of social and cultural solidarity, but also similar anthropological ancestors as well. To celebrate their heritage, the U.S. Census Bureau has a fact sheet with some interesting statistics:

The first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916 in New York. Red Fox James, a Blackfeet Indian, rode horseback from state to state, getting endorsements from 24 state governments, to have a day to honor American Indians. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.”

4.9 million
As of July 1, 2008, the estimated population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race. They made up 1.6 percent of the total population.

29.7
Median age of the American Indian and Alaska Native population in 2008, younger than the median of 36.8 for the population as a whole. About 30 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives were younger than 18, and 8 percent were 65 and older.

5
Number of states where American Indians and Alaska Natives were the largest race or ethnic minority group in 2008. These states are Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

18%
The proportion of Alaska’s population identified as American Indian and Alaska Native as of July 1, 2008, the highest rate for this race group of any state. Alaska was followed by Oklahoma (11 percent) and New Mexico (11 percent).

29%
Percentage of American Indians and Alaska Natives 5 and older who spoke a language other than English at home.

$37,815
The median income of households from the 2008 American Community Survey where the householder reported being American Indian and Alaska Native and no other race.

24.2%
The 2008 poverty rate of people who reported they were American Indian and Alaska Native and no other race.

$26.9 billion
Receipts for American Indian- and Alaska Native-owned businesses in 2002. These businesses numbered 201,387.

In addition, the Association of College & Research Libraries has also compiled a very useful list of internet sites and resources related to the Native American Indian population and their history, contributions, and experiences. Below are a few of the websites that I found particularly interesting:

All submitted comments are first reviewed before appearing on the site. Constructive disagreement and intelligent debate are fine and encouraged. Comments that contain personal attacks, excessive profanity, spam or are blatantly offensive, slanderous, threatening, racist, or irrelevant to the topic are not and will be edited out or deleted.

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One thing I (always) wonder about is best-selling books. One source of info is Amazon. In their “Bestsellers in Children’s Native American Books” are the following titles. Some are on their more than once. In some cases, its clear that the duplicate is a Kindle edition, but others seem to just be repeats. There isn’t, for example, a note that says it is an audio copy.

It is, overall, a disappointing list and it makes me grumpy on this Monday morning…  I’m glad to see Native authors on the list, but duplicates of some really problematic books like Touching Spirit Bear?! And it is pretty easy to see that Amazon’s customers want works of historical fiction or “myths, legends and folktales.”  

#1 – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
#2 – Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
#3 – One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims, by B. G. Hennessy
#4 – Island of the Blue Dolphins (Kindle), by Scott O’Dell
#5 – Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, by Joseph Bruchac
#6 – Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#7 – North American Indians, by Douglas Gorsline
#8 – Tapenum’s Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times
#9 – Encounter, by Jane Yolen
#10 – Sing Down the Moon, by Scott O’Dell
#11 – The Rough-Face Girl, by Rafe Martin
#12 – Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Holling
#13 – Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost
#14 – Red Fox and His Canoe (I Can Read Book), by Nathaniel Benchley
#15 – The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare
#16 – The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, by Tomie de Paola
#17 – Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale, by Gerald McDermott
#18 – Touching Spirit Bear (Kindle) by Ben Mikaelson
#19 – Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
#20 – Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#21 – Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, by Lois Lenski
#22 – Mountain Top Mystery (Boxcar Children), by Gertrude Chandler Warner
#23 – Grandmother’s Dreamcatcher, by Becky Ray McCain
#24 – On Mother’s Lap, by Ann Herbert Scott
#25 – Horse Diaries #5: Golden Sun, by Whitney Sanderson
#26 – The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Reid Banks
#27 – Sacagawea: American Pathfinder, by Flora Warren Seymour
#28 – Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II, by Joseph Bruchac
#29 – The Heart of a Chief, by Joseph Bruchac
#30 – Little Runner of the Longhouse (I Can Red Book 2) by Betty Baker
#31 – Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Hollins
#32 – Love Flute, by Paul Goble
#33 – Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, by Cornelia Cornelissen
#34 – The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838, by Joseph Bruchac
#35 – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
#36 – The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich
#37 – The Legend of the Bluebonnet, by Tomie dePaola
#38 – Buffalo Woman, by Paul Goble
#39 – Cheyenne Again, by Eve Bunting
#40 – Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker, by Carolyn Meyer
#41 – Julie, by Jean Craighead George
#42 – Children of the Longhouse, by Joseph Bruchac
#43 – Sacred Fire, by Nancy Wood
#44 – Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O’Dell
#45 – Mama, Do You Love Me, by Barbara J. Joosse
#46 – The Year of Miss Agnes, by Kirkpatrick Hill
#47 – Sweetgrass Basket, by Marlene Carvell
#48 – Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy, by Augusta Stevenson
#49 – The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George
#50 – Rainbow Crow, by Nancy Van Laan
#51 – The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble
#52 – The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale, by Lydia Dabcovich
#53 – The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble
#54 – Song of the Seven Herbs, by Walking Night Bear
#55 – Ten Little Rabbits, by Virginia Grossman
#56 – The Lost Children: The Boys Who Were Neglected, by Paul Goble
#57 – Moccasin Trail, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
#58 – Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, by Scott O’Dell
#59 – Meet Kaya: An American Girl, by Janet Beeler Shaw
#60 – When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland
#61 – Sacajawea, by Joseph Bruchac
#62 – Knots on a Counting Rope, by John Archambault
#63 – The Porcupine Year, by Louise Erdrich
#64 – Star Boy, by Paul Goble
#65 – Jim and Me, by Dan Gutman
#66 – Kaya: An American Girl: 1764/Box Set, by Janet Beeler Shaw
#67 – Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places, by Joseph Bruchac
#68 – Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#69 – Weasel, by Cynthia Defelice
#70 – When the Shadbush Blooms, by Carla Messinger
#71 – On Mother’s Lap, by Ann Herbert Scott
#72 – The Captive Princess: A Story Based on the Life of Young Pocahontas
#73 – Powwow’s Coming, by Linda Boyden
#74 – The Gift of the Sacred Dog, by Paul Goble
#75 – Streams to the River, River to the Sea, by Scott O’Dell
#76 – Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts – Rhode Island, 1653 (Royal Diaries) by Patricia Clark Smith
#77 – Indian Trail (Choose Your Own Adventure) , by R. A. Montgomery
#78 – Arrow Over the Door, by Joseph Bruchac
#79 – At Seneca Castle, by William W. Canfield
#81 – Pocahontas, by Joseph Bruchac
#82 – Squanto’s Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, by Joseph Bruchac
#83 – Christmas Moccsains, by Ray Buckley
#84 – The Game of Silence, by Louise Erdrich
#85 – Encounter, by Jane Yolen
#86 – Beyond the Ridge, by Paul Goble
#87 – Death of the Iron Horse, by Paul Goble
#88 – The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
#89 – Island of the Blue Dolphins (illustrated) by Scott O’Dell
#90 – Frozen Fire: A Tale of Courage by James Houston
#92 – Blood on the River: James Town 1607, by Elisa Carbone
#92 – The Give-Away: A Christmas Story in the American Tradition, by Ray Buckley
#93 – Mystic Horse, by Paul Goble
#94 – Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners, by Lucilee Recht Penner
#95 – Mysteries in Our National Parks: Cliff Hanger, by Gloria Skurzynski
#96 – Jim Thorpe, Olympic Champion, by Guernsey Van Riper Jr
#97 – Good Hunting, Blue Sky (I Can Read Book) by Peggy Parish
#98 – Guests, by Michael Dorris
#99 – Hiawatha and Megissogwon by Henry W. Longfellow
#100 – Sing Down the Moon, by Scott O’Dell

Observations? Books by four Native authors are on the list: Sherman Alexie, Joseph Bruchac, Louise Erdrich, and Michael Dorris.  I’ll return to this list later to share analyses and observations. Right now, I gotta head to class. The class? American Indian Studies 101, where, over the course of the semester, students gain insight and skills in recognizing problematic depictions of Native peoples. It is encouraging to see that development in them. I wish everyone in the US could take an Intro to American Indian Studies course. Then maybe there’d be some CHANGE in what they buy.

View the original article here

New genetic research has uncovered evidence that suggests a Native North American woman came to Iceland in the year 1000, most probably as a captive of Viking marauders.  This early contact between medieval Europeans and Native Americans has led to at least 80 Icelanders carrying her genes.

The story behind this finding was revealed this week in the article, “A new subclade of mtDNA haplogroup C1 found in icelanders: Evidence of pre-columbian contact?” in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.  The Icelandic and Spanish authors came across the discovery as they were doing research on the genetic background of contemporary Icelanders.

“It was thought at first that (the DNA) came from recently established Asian families in Iceland,” said Carles Lalueza-Fox, one of the study’s authors and a researcher at Spain’s CSIC  institute. “But when family genealogy was studied, it was discovered that the four families were descended from ancestors who lived between 1710 and 1740 from the same region of southern Iceland.”

Agnar Helgason, an Icelandic geneticist and study co-author, added in an interview with Postmedia News “the great human genealogical tree through the female line that has, to date, only been found in Native Americans” although they have not been able to determine which native group this women might have come from.  They speculate that it could be a person from the Beothuk, a people who lived in Newfoundland and became extinct in the 19th century.

Icelandic sagas and archaeological evidence have supported the idea that Viking ships reached the eastern coast of North America and attempted to establish settlements there. One such settlement was discovered at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland.  According to the Vinland sagas, the Norsemen came across a people they called ‘skrælings’ with whom they fought.

The article concludes, “The mystery surrounding the geographical origin of the Icelandic C1e lineage will remain until additional members are found in other populations—ancient or contemporary. Until then, we propose that the most likely hypothesis is that the Icelandic voyages to the Eastern coastline of the Americas resulted in the migration of at least one Native American woman carrying the C1e lineage to Iceland around the year 1000.”

View the original article here

For example, the police chase across the Ohio-Indiana state line resembled real police incidents in that general region.

And interestingly, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is also located near the Ohio-Indiana border. That base is home to an Air Force foreign technology research center and closely associated with the alleged Roswell incident and subsequent research.

In “Close Encounters” a mysterious red-suited team of 12 Americans is covertly sent to Devils Tower, a U.S. National Monument. That element parallels claims about a secret mission called “Project SERPO.”

According to reports about this allegedly real operation, 12 carefully selected and trained U.S. military personnel went on an exchange program in the 1960s with an extraterrestrial race aboard their spacecraft, staying on a faraway planet for more than a decade.

In “Close Encounters” the clandestine logistics and security operation at Devils Tower was largely facilitated by U.S. Army Special Forces.

In real life, some of their specialties are covert and unconventional operations. Army Special Forces also works in roles to establish rapport with indigenous populations and provide training.

But is there more about Devils Tower that we can learn?

Image: Bear’s Lodge, also known as Devils Tower, Wyoming

BEAR’S LODGE

Native American Indians had a very different name for this unusual geological formation. To the Lakota and Cheyenne, it was “Bear Lodge,” “Grizzly Bear Lodge,” or “Bear Lodge Butte.” The Cheyenne and Crow also referred to it as “Bear’s House” or “Bear’s Lair.” It was also called “Bear’s Tipi” by the Cheyenne and Arapaho. To the Kiowa, it was “Tree Rock.”

How did an Indian identity associated with a bear lodge become “Devils Tower?” It is believed that an interpreter in an 1875 expedition in the area misunderstood the Indian words and translated them as “Bad God’s Tower” which was later changed to “Devil’s Tower,” and eventually to “Devils Tower” (no apostrophe).

President Theodore Roosevelt declared the huge rock formation a U.S. National Monument in 1906. Today, the entire monument are includes 1,347 acres.

Interesting legends and folklore about the site may also hold clues about more subtle connections at Devils Tower or Bear Lodge.

A Lakota tale reportedly describes six Lakota girls picking flowers there when they were chased by bears. The Great Spirit helped the girls by raising the ground under them. The distinctive vertical striations of the rock were made when the bears tried to climb it but slid down, leaving huge scratch marks, according to this legend.

A Kiowa story is similar. Seven girls playing were chased by large bears. To escape, the girls climbed a rock and prayed to the Great Spirit for help. Answering the girls’ prayers, the Great Spirit caused the rock to rise to the heavens, saving the girls as the bears tried to climb the rock, leaving their claw marks.

As the girls reached the uppermost realms of the sky, they became the star constellation the Pleiades. This star system is sometimes associated with extraterrestrial visitors in more modern cases.

There is another legend about several boys escaping a bear, praying to the Creator for help, being raised up on the rock and escaping back to their village with the help of an eagle.

ALIEN VISITORS

When Army Special Forces, scientists, technicians, defense and intelligence officials, and the mysterious 12-person team infiltrate the Devils Tower or Bear Lodge region in “Close Encounters,” can we make any connections to this Native American Indian lore or other possible factors?

Many Indian tribes have oral histories about unusual visitors or beings of many kinds. In some legends, the visitors come from far away in the skies. In others, certain beings are native to Earth, or live nearby, and are part of the mysteries of Nature and reality.

Even now, there are many reports of mysterious phenomena in Indian Country. And, Indian perspectives about Nature, the Great Spirit and other matters can be unique and helpful to learn about.

Another different type of link is the rich history in the U.S. Army of establishing connections to Native American tribes and traditions. Unit patches, words and concepts related to the identity and honor of a warrior can be found throughout the U.S. Army.

For example, the Army’s famed 101st Airborne Division uses the Cherokee word “currahee” as a touchstone concept. Currahee means “we stand alone together.”

The Army Special Forces motto, though not in American Indian language, is the Latin “de Oppresso Liber” meaning “Liberate the Oppressed.”

Of course, these two U.S. Army examples are paradoxical, to put it mildly, regarding the history of conflicts with Native American Indians over centuries as Europeans landed, conquered, took land, enslaved and destroyed or nearly destroyed native societies and cultures.

When some Europeans became “Americans,” regional militias and federal army troops often did the same.

In the case of the Cherokee, their ancient homeland in the Appalachian Mountain region stretched from Tennessee and North Carolina to Georgia and Alabama. Staring in the 1700s, there was a large degree of intermarriage with Scottish, Scots-Irish and English explorers and settlers, resulting in the millions of Americans today who have Cherokee DNA within them.

But this did not help them when in 1838 men, women, children and the elderly were forced at gunpoint and bayonet point from their homes and farms into prison camps, their land stolen, and marched to Oklahoma on the terrible and deadly “Trail of Tears.” Many mixed-ethnicity Cherokee were reportedly able to avoid this removal.

Their experience parallels the history of many other tribes.

Today, some researchers advise us to consider the experience of Native American Indians who faced a visitation or invasion of technologically superior “aliens” from England, France, Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

Could humans dealing with advanced beings from elsewhere experience a fate similar to that of American Indians?

Maybe we can take another look at “Close Encounters” in light of the history of Bear’s Lodge or Devils Tower. That location may serve as a way to explore the many lessons about connections between American history, humanity, nature and the mysteries of the universe.

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