MetaFilter posts tagged with archaeology and nativeamericans

Upper Sun River Mouth Child

Dr. Zira — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 18:57:25 -0800

Xaasaa Cheege Ts'eniin is a very special toddler. Approximately 11,500 years ago, the child spent at least one summer with family at a seasonal base camp in the Tanana Valley, located in what we now know as Alaska. Earlier this week, archaeologists announced their discovery of the child's cremated remains in ancient fire pit amidst an excavation of a circular semi-subterranean home. DNA testing of the remains could reveal genetic connections to the modern Athabascans. In addition, the find could yield new insight into the Paleo-Indians who traveled the Bering Strait, and the migration patterns of some of the indigenous people of North America. While little Xaaxaa only lived about three years, the toddler's remains, now the earliest human remains ever discovered in the North American arctic, ensure little Xaaxaa will be remembered for years to come.

Philadelphia Underground

Rumple — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:08:35 -0800

Native American Sites in the City of Philadelphia is a superbly illustrated exposition of the historical development of Philadelphia, with a focus on those few surviving Native American sites which lie under the urban fabric. Lots more excellent Public Archaeology is available from the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum. Bonus link: Philly's lost creeks and streams. "Nay, it is very possible, that on the very site of Coaquanock, by the margin of the Dock Creek, on which their wigwams clustered and their canoes were sheltered, — on the very spot where Henry, Hancock and Adams since inspired the delegates of the colonies ... with nerve and sinew for the toils of war, — there may have been lighted the council fires of wary Sachems, and there may have pealed the rude eloquence of Tamanend himself, — and of the Shingas, Tadeuscunds and Glikicans of their primitive and undebauched age!" –John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania in the Olden Time (1857), Vol 1: 41

Entombed below a 10-acre concrete slab

xowie — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 09:04:00 -0800

Tse-whit-zen. Excavation for the Hood Canal Bridge near Seattle has unearthed a huge prehistoric Indian village and alienated tribal spiritual leaders.

Kennewick Controversy: A Sign of the Times

mcgraw — Tue, 10 Feb 2004 06:40:58 -0800

Research Vs. Religion: Scientists Win Lawsuit Against Native American Tribes The 9,000 year old remains, found in Kennewick, Washington in 1996, will be made available for study, rather than being buried by tribes who had hoped to assert the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in this case.