Missouri
The Osage (Matthews 1961) were the dominant
Indian nation in Missouri (Figure 4.11) prior to European
contact and through astute diplomacy and military prowess
were able to maintain themselves as an important influence
until statehood. In the southern part of the state some Quapaw
and Tunica villages were located and along the western and
central areas of the north Otoe and Missouri settlements were
numerous. At the extreme northeastern part of the state Sac
and Fox peoples claimed lands. During removal of the Five
Civilized Tribes and earlier with removals of Indian nations
from the Ohio and Indiana areas some sites in this state were
used as temporary winter or refurbishing places. The Wyandotte,
for example, lived in the Kansas City area for only a short
period of time but established a tribal cemetery that is still
in existence.
The vast majority of potential sacred sites
in this state are of two kinds: burials and rock shelters.
There are also a considerable number of mounds of prehistoric
times. Missouri is rich in evidence of former Indian occupancy
but no contemporary tribe has come forward to identify specifically
with the prehistoric ruins. In Hickory Country, about forty
miles east of the Osage Village Historic Site is Pomme de
Terre Lake; once Pomme de Terre prairies had a special significance
for the Osage. There an ancient battle was fought between
monsters coming across the Mississippi and up the Missouri
and great animal who dominated the western banks of the Mississippi.
These creatures preyed upon humans and were eventually destroyed
by the Great Spirit. The Osage once held the Pomme de Terre
area as very sacred ceremonial site and it was one of the
last areas to be ceded to the United States.
Fort Leonard Wood is the largest military
installation in the state and has an outstanding Legacy program
(#519) funded in FY92. The base commander has employed a Staff
Archaeologist, Richard Edeging who is making an inventory
of the numerous rock shelters which are found within the fort.
This program provides experience in managing archaeological
and cultural resources.
Montana
Montana (Figure 4.12) has eight major Indian
nations: the Salish (Fahey 1930; Fuller 1974)) and Kootenai
(Turney-High 1941) collectively sometimes called "Flatheads"
and the Blackfeet (Ewers 1958; McClintock 1968) in the western
reaches of the state; the Gros Ventres (Flannery 1953; Fowler
1987), Sioux (Marquis 1993), Chippewa (Tanner 1976; Cleland
1992), Cree (Sharrock 1974; Dusenberry 1962) and Assiniboine
(Sharrock 1974; Miller 1987; Rodnick 1930) in the north central
and eastern parts of the state; and the Crow (Lowie 1956)
and Northern Cheyenne (Ekirch 1974; Grinnell 1956; Marquis
1973; Painter 1893; Powell 1969; Schlesier 1987; Seger 1956;
Svingen 1993) along the Wyoming-Montana border in the southern
part of the state. The Sioux, Arapaho (Fowler 1982), Mandan
and Arikara (Meyer 1977), Shoshone (Trenholm and Carley 1964)
and Blackfeet and Blood of Canada can all claim historical
occupation of some areas of the state with sacred sites located
in these areas.
For the present military land holdings are
minimal in the state and unless future plans call for expansion
of testing grounds, air bases or bombing ranges, no future
conflicts between the tribes of this state and the DoD are
foreseeable other than military overflights. Some sacred locations
have been destroyed since the tribes went onto the reservations.
In Phillips County the Saco Hot Springs and Sleeping Buffalo
Rocks were once centers of religious activities, the location
having a set of picture writings and being the site of vision
quest activities. Members of the Gros Ventres and Assiniboine
tribes frequently left flesh sacrifices at this location.
At Prior Gap near the Montana-Wyoming border the Crow had
an important shrine in the Castle Rocks area but this location
was destroyed by the building of a railroad tunnel that was
believed to have forced the spirits of the site to move.
A common phenomenon in the Montana area and
in some parts of the western Dakotas are the medicine rocks.
These rocks have a form of pictographs which, according to
traditional people, show a new set of events from time to
time. Specially trained medicine men are the only ones who
can read and interpret these pictures. There is ample evidence
that these rocks performed the function which the traditional
people claim. Some of these locations are now within the borders
of existing reservations and some rocks appear to have been
moved to secret locations so that they can continue to inform
the people of future events. Chances are great that if any
of these rocks are presently functioning they are already
being used by the traditional people in secret locations and
would not be vulnerable to exploitation.
Nevada
The major Indian tribes living in Nevada (Figure
4.13) are the Northern Paiute (Knack and Stewart 1984), Southern
Paiute (Euler 1973; Holt 1992; Stoffle, Jake, Bunte, and Evans
1982; Stoffle, Halmo, Ohmstead, and Evans 1990), Western Shoshone
(Thomas, Pendleton, and Cappanari 1986; Crum 1994; Harney
1995) and Washoe (Price 1960; d'Azevedo 1986) with some small
holdings by the Gosiute whose traditional lands are cut by
the Nevada-Utah border. As previously discussed, the Northern
Paiute and desert Shoshone covered a vast area, primarily
in the Great Basin of eastern Oregon and parts of Idaho. These
tribes were composed of many independent small units who shared
a common language, desert subsistence style of economics,
and basic mythology. While some scholars have drawn occupancy
area maps based upon economic or linguistic characteristics,
it is fair to say that no single region was exclusively settled
by either the Shoshone or the Paiute. The Washoes tended to
concentrate in the Lake Tahoe and Sierra Nevada foothills
area and were not as involved in desert living as the other
tribes.
West central Nevada landscape was once covered
by the giant Pleistocene Lake Lahontan. Several areas of massive
volcanic lava flows which characterize this part of the Great
Basin. This area has a multitude of hot springs and water
sources which have unusual mineral content. Lakes and streams
are sometimes intermittent; the Humboldt river "sinks"
into the ground in places and emerges for a short distance
in other places. In terms of marking out a sacred occupancy
area for the native peoples in this state locating a network
of medicinal springs here is comparable to the configurations
of mountains which determine the tribal boundaries in the
Great Plains, Arizona and New Mexico.
Paiute
The two largest Paiute reservations, Walker
River and Pyramid Lake; both are Northern Paiute people, as
are the smaller reservations such as Fallon, Summit Lake and
Fort McDermitt. Southern Paiute reservations include Moapa,
Las Vegas. The Pahrump Southern Paiute are seeking Federal
acknowledgment. Aboriginal occupancy by these people extended
well into California and can be described by an arc drawn
from the Reno-Sparks area southeastwardly to Las Vegas. Although
there were reasonably large groups in the Sierra Nevada foothills,
most Paiute living in the desert formed small hunting bands
which could subsist on game and plants. Plant knowledge of
the desert was and continues to be extensive. Farming characterized
all Southern Paiute groups.
Religious practices revolved around creation
stories and healing ceremonies and had significant relationships
to springs, hot water and unique geological places. Since
the hunting bands were relatively small in population, there
was great reliance on individual religious knowledge. The
various bands of Paiute rarely gathered together, so apart
from commonly shared creation stories, many religious beliefs
and practices were band-specific and dealt with the landscape
in which the particular group lived. Consequently identification
of sacred sites that would have relevance to all Paiutes is
almost impossible. Locations that might have great significance
for one group would have little or no importance to another
group depending on the frequency of use of a particular region.
In Churchill County, east of Reno, there is
a reddish butte, now named Rattlesnake Butte, which was a
traditional Paiute burial ground. Later it was the site of
a battle between the Paiute and the Pit River Indians of California.
The tradition suggests that it is a location which the people
would not want disturbed or carelessly used. A valley in Eureka
County is called Kobeh which means "face" in Paiute
and refers to a tradition of ancient times, quite possibly
involving a spiritual personality or creation legend. Exceedingly
hot springs existed in the Carson City area prior to the coming
of the Euroamericans. One spring, now called Steamboat Springs,
was said to have had as many as seventy separate columns of
steam coming from its vents and must have been an important
healing center. There is a possibility that these locations
have ceremonial linkage with locations within or near the
Fallon Naval Air Station. Consultation with Paiute elders
at Walker River, Fallon and Pyramid Lake would clarify this
possibility.
The Fallon Naval Air Station has two sites
on it that are important to the Northern Paiutes, particularly
the people at Owens Valley. Lone Rock and Black Butte are
healing and vision questing sites and attract traditional
people from Walker, River, Pyramid Lake, and the Fallon Indian
community itself. Legacy Project #479, which was funded in
FY93, is in place and that project report will make more specific
the nature of the religious importance of these two sites.
Clark County, which contains the city of Las
Vegas and Nellis Air Force Base, has several locations important
to the Southern Paiute. The most prominent is Charleston Peak,
called Nevagantu by the people, which plays a prominent role
in the creation stories of the groups of this area. The peak
is also important to the Chemehuevi-Paiute who live south
along the Colorado River in California on their own reservation
and also live on the Colorado River Indian Tribes reservation
in Arizona. The peak is the northernmost mountain involved
in their creation narrative and forms an important location
marker that describes their sacred lands. The Newberry Mountains,
located southeast of Las Vegas, have a group of peaks at their
northern end designated as the Spirit Mountain. The tradition
suggests that these mountains were the dwelling place of departed
spirits of ancestral people. The location, therefore is to
be held sacred and not disturbed.
Arrow Canyon in Clark County has sacred significance,
but the reason for this has been clouded by Euroamerican interpretations
of Southern Paiute stories. According to Euroamericans, the
most common explanation involves a tradition about conflict
between the Moapa Valley Paiute and Pahranagat Paiute. War
parties of each group met at the canyon and, upon realizing
that the ensuing battle would be bloody and costly, agreed
to reduce the struggle to a contest of shooting arrows high
into the canyon wall where there was a cleft formation. This
incident was jointly celebrated each year thereafter until
the groups were placed on the Moapa Paiute Indian reservation.
This Euroamerican tradition hides an earlier story which must
certainly go back to very ancient times and record some form
of religious revelation. The Moapa and Pahranagat Paiutes
were part of the same district and they have no contemporary
stories about a feud associated with Arrow Canyon. This case
points out the importance of consulting with Indian people
rather than taking as face value published accounts of their
sacred sites. There is a cultural linkage between these people,
the Las Vegas Paiutes, the Pahrump Paiutes and the Chemehuevi
Paiutes with cultural sites on Nellis Air Force Base.
Most plant gathering locations are held secret
by the native people, usually women, who know the areas and
plants. Southern Paiutes have gone on record about plant areas
when locations are kept secret and the agencies agrees to
protect plants (Stoffle, Halmo, Olmsted, Evans 1990; Stoffle,
Halmo, Evans, Olmsted 1990; Stoffle, Evans, Halmo, Dufort,
Fulfrost 1994). A few commonly known Paiute plant gathering
sites exist elsewhere. In Lincoln County near the Utah border
Toqupo Wash was a special location where both Paiute and Shoshone
gathered the tuuko'api or black tobacco for ceremonies. Springs
have special meaning for Southern Paiutes, being the focus
of plant and animal life as well as having their own spirits.
Protection of this type of location, if it continues to be
used as a gathering site and ceremonial area, potentially
could relieve Paiute people from harvesting this plant in
other places that might involve use of military lands. It
also should be recognized that the ceremonial meaning of plants
often derives from where they are found, so it is not possible
to know without consultation with Paiute religious leaders
whether or not a plant from one area can substitute for the
same kind of plant from another area.
Shoshone
Northern Desert Great Basin groups of this
people lived in a similar manner to the Northern Paiute but
many of their stories look toward the north and link with
traditions already discussed in relation to sites in Idaho.
Again there is extensive use of springs for the healing ceremonies
and the use of particular mountains for vision quests and
larger council gatherings. As might be expected, the small
number of people in desert hunting bands produced religious
knowledge specific to each band. The Shoshone were not keen
about the spirits of the dead and generally avoided locations
where they had experienced these spirits. The sites which
will be discussed below have no immediate relevancy to DoD
operations that can be determined. However, the possibility
exists that religious traditions involving these important
sites do relate to DoD-occupied lands in Southern Nevada.
Should these relationships be discussed in consultation with
tribal officials, this background information will assist
DoD personnel in understanding the scope of Shoshone religious
activities.
Near Elko we have a Jarbidge Canyon which
was regarded by the Shoshone as a place to be feared and at
times a place to receive offerings and sacrifices. Tso'avitsi,
a mythical crater-dwelling giant, was said to have lived in
this geological formation in the early days. He was cannibalistic
and hunted people, carrying a basket on his back for his human
harvest. Capturing several people he would return to his crater
and consume them. These stories seem fanciful except that
the tradition of cannibalistic giants is found over a surprisingly
large geographical area and has resonance with stories of
the northern Plains which feature giant human-eating monsters
preying on the people. We may have here an echo of prehistoric
conditions in the Great Basin area.
The Shoshone may have intruded into lands
that were at first occupied by Paiutes, with the result that
some locations, particularly hot springs or healing springs
are shared by the two groups. Today the hot springs are primary
candidates for experimental activities involving geothermal
energy and consequently in the desert regions of California
and Nevada there is the potential for conflict between traditional
religious practitioners and research projects involving geothermal
energy. The religious significance of a hot springs location
is the presence of what these people call "doctor rocks,"
which are specific sites used for healing ceremonies. Both
Shoshone and Paiute are reluctant to disclose the existence
of these rocks, their attitude being the same as northern
Plains peoples with the writing rocks. Only an on-site discussion
with local groups can resolve this problem.
Nevada's military installations have a certain
degree of secrecy and sensitivity which must be recognized.
The Nevada Test Site has some sacred locations, the Hawthorne
Army ammunition plant must have some sites that are important
to the Northern Paiutes, the Yucca Mountain atomic dump site
must surely have Western Shoshone sacred locations. The famous
Area 51 already has a massive folklore among New Ager flying
saucer buffs. But the state has a very good archaeology program
and it is working with the Inter-tribal Council of Nevada
to compile lists of all the important religious sites in the
state. Five locations have been identified by that office
as being sacred: Cave Rock near Lake Tahoe in Douglas County,
Spirit Mountain in Clark County, Tosa Wikki Quarry near Battle
Mountain in Elko County, and Pyramid and Walker Lakes.
New Mexico
Aboriginally a great many Indian nations (Ortiz
1979, 1983) lived in and used the lands of New Mexico (Figure
4.14). The state was occupied by several distinct bands of
Apache, the most familiar of which are the Mescalero, Jicarilla,
and Lipan. The eastern Navajo and the Pueblos, which had more
than 125 villages at the time of European contact, have been
permanent residents for thousands of years. The Comanche,
Kiowa, Wichita (Bell et al 1974; Wedel and Wedel 1976), Cheyenne,
Arapaho and Ute also spent considerable time in the state.
Creation, emergence, and migration stories abound within these
traditions.
Geologically, New Mexico includes the southern
U.S. end of the Rocky Mountains, with spectacular mountains,
much evidence of volcanism, and grassy high desert-like plains
south of the mountains and east of the Rio Grande. This background
information is important to DoD understanding because many
traditions deal with volcanic activity and there are complex
sets of relationships between and among the various mountains
in the state. Judging from the ancient ruins and the amount
of pottery shards to be found haphazardly in many areas of
the state, the Rio Grande Valley must have been the site of
human habitation from the very beginning of time.
Indeed, the Clovis site is accepted by orthodox
scholars as one of the most important locations for North
American and perhaps western hemisphere archaeology, being
dated at approximately 11,200 before the present (Johnson
1991). Native peoples lived in the Rio Grande drainage from
that time until the time of Spanish contact. Following Spanish
conquest and settlement many pueblos were merged together
as population decline occurred. Consequently some Indian nations
have incorporated traditions brought by survivors and remnant
families of former pueblos into their own traditions.
Today two Apache reservations are located
within the state. The Jicarilla Apache have a reservation
in the north, near Colorado, with headquarters at Dulce. The
Mescalero Apache have a reservation in the south, near Texas,
with headquarters at Mescalero.
Nineteen pueblo reservations exist from along
the Rio Grande west to south of Gallup at Zuni. Some remnant
mixed groups from former pueblos in southern New Mexico are
now seeking Federal recognition.
The Navajo reservation is the largest reservation
in the Lower 48 states and a portion of it, consisting primarily
of allotted lands with some tribal lands, extends from Arizona
into western New Mexico. Many New Mexico Navajo chapter communities
that are part of the Navajo Nation are adjacent to the reservation
in this area. Three isolated reservations at Ramah, Puertocito
and Canoncito also belong to the Navajos.
Identification of some locations as sacred
to a particular Indian nation, therefore, will not exclude
that location from being used religiously by another Indian
nation for similar or even entirely different ceremonies.
It is the specific tribe's historical religious experience
that defines a location as sacred to the group.
In New Mexico we have a tremendous overlapping
of distinct tribal religious traditions at most sacred sites;
frequent multi-tribal use of springs and mountains, close
proximity of shrines of different groups, and the transformation
of ancient historical sites into places of contemporary religious
reverence. The Indian nations of New Mexico are highly traditional
and extremely secretive about their beliefs, practices, and
places of ceremonial and ritual activity. A great deal of
information is already written down and sealed in confidentiality,
particularly among the Pueblos. Consequently in-depth information
on some sites can only be obtained by arrangement with the
Indian tribal government and the State of New Mexico, Office
of Cultural Affairs, Historic Preservation Division, Santa
Fe.
The theology of the New Mexico Indian nations
is exceedingly complex and their historical roots must go
back in some instances to the earliest prehistoric time periods.
Consequently it is a good idea to try to clarify some of the
terms that are used by the traditional people, particularly
those involved with creation, emergence, and migration since
they become rather technical terms when discussing the people
of this state and confusion can lead to misunderstanding.
While definitions of the kinds of sacred sites have already
been discussed in Chapters One and Two, the New Mexico situation
poses special problems in understanding. Creation stories,
for example, frequently assume a pre-existing physical world,
emergence stories may deal with multiple worlds, some physical
and some not, and migration stories may refer to this earth
or may combine several physical worlds.
Creation should be understood as referring
to that act or state of awareness which people experienced
or had knowledge of, that created the landscape around them.
Some traditions speak of the existence of several worlds and
creation, when placed in this context, most probably means
the experiences and memories of small groups of survivors
of a major geological catastrophe. Volcanic evidence of substantial
geological disruptions is everywhere in the state and one
can only guess what the area was like prior to the disruption.
Emergence is closely related to creation in
the sense that the people come from another dimension, usually
an underground world, and are led through underground passages
into certain land formations in our present world. The Navajo,
for example, speak of having been formerly in an underground
world and the Hopi tell of a time when the surface of the
earth was not suitable for life and they had to live with
the ants underground.
Migration usually describes either a creation
or an emergence somewhere else and, as part of the event,
people receiving religious instruction to migrate across the
land until they reach a certain previously described set of
natural features which is designated as their home during
this period of earth history. It is this religious pilgrimage
that people feel gives them a superior title to those given
by any earthly government. It should be noted that while many
scholars view very ancient ruins as distinct from contemporary
Indian nations, the Pueblos and Navajos use Anasazi and other
sites for ceremonial pilgrimages and secret rituals indicating
at least an emotional linkage with the remote past.
Apache
The most important Apache tribes are the Jicarilla
(Gunerson 1974; Opler 1938; Tiller 1983) in the northern part
of the state and the Mescalero (Sonnischen 1958) in the Sierra
Blancas and surrounding lands. Remnants of the Chiracahua
and Lipan bands of Apaches (Opler 1965) are found at Mescalero,
at San Carlos, and at Fort Sill. San Carlos, Arizona, and
Fort Sill, Oklahoma are not located in New Mexico but there
are families from each of these areas who still visit the
New Mexico area to use sacred sites in several locations.
Of the remnant groups, there are some individual
Chiricahuas who continue a ceremonial life for small gatherings.
The Jicarilla and Mescalero live approximately in the center
of their original occupancy area. Consequently knowledge and
use of sacred sites located in the area has a greater sense
of immediacy for them.
The Mescalero Apache have lands within the
Fort Bliss Military Reservation where there are four known
sacred peaks and some additional sites presently kept secret
by the people. The four known locations are Guadalupe Peak,
Organ Mountain, Three Sisters and Oscura Peak. All indications
are that these peaks are part of the ancient history of the
people, places where ceremonies were revealed, and sites which
require continual ceremonial caretaking. Great care must be
taken in making contact with traditional Mescaleros. The tribe
is split along conservative/progressive lines because of a
desire by the tribal government to accept an atomic waste
treatment project and this business is viewed as anathema
by traditional people.
In Catron County in west central New Mexico
there is a volcanic area that until recently contained sufficient
heat to cause steam to rise after a slight rain. It is called
Burning Mountain and appears to have had the same function
as the hot springs near present day Truth or Consequences,
which was used for healing purposes. South of the Mescalero
Reservation in Otero County just north of Fort Bliss and east
of White Sands are the Cornudas Mountains, a set of peaks
that rise abruptly from a mesa to an elevation of approximately
7,000 feet.
About 35 miles southeast of Alamagordo, still
in the Sacramento Mountains, is Grapevine Canyon which has
pictographs of sotol, a desert plant used to make the mescal
drink from which the Mescalero take their name. The pictographs
are to be found at the entrance of a cave in the canyon and
there are a sufficient number to suggest that Lipan Apache
and perhaps even Comanche used this location for a variety
of purposes. The specific sacred aspect of the site can be
verified and explained by a traditional spiritual leader at
Mescalero. Near the northwest corner of the White Sands Missile
Range and some 15 miles west of Carrizozo is the Little Black
Peak which is an extinct volcanic crater which produced a
lava flow about 60 miles long and 4 miles wide. Like other
volcanic features of New Mexico, it is entirely likely that
the site is connected to migration stories or traditions involving
monsters.
In Dona Ana County there is a location presently
called Phillips' Hole. It is a volcanic crater of comparable
size to those in Catron County, but lacking the large lava
flow field. It may have a connection with the crater discussed
above. Along the Mexican border in neighboring Luna County
is the peak called Tres Hermanas. This formation is distinct
from the other Three Sisters located within the Fort Bliss
area but must have ceremonial significance because of its
command of the nearby landscape. Undoubtedly it was used by
the Apache as a lookout in their wars with the Spanish, Mexicans,
and Americans as its use would be essential to keep track
of parties coming from El Paso.
Although the Jicarilla Apaches now live in
north central New Mexico at their reservation at Dulce, they
originally spent as much time in the high plains foothills
area of the eastern slope of the Rockies as they did in the
northern New Mexico mountains. Black Lake, in the southwestern
corner of Colfax County in northern New Mexico, is probably
a sacred location. Perceptions of the lake change as the distance
from it varies. It looks black when viewed from a distance
because of the reflection of the trees and dense vegetation
which surround its shores. Approaching closely to the shoreline
the lake is seen as being clear blue. These kinds of changes
would have been understood as reflecting the power of the
location and would almost certainly have fit into Apache understandings
of mountains and lakes. Proximity to Taos Pueblo suggests
that these people might also have a ceremonial tradition with
respect to this place.
Three volcanic mountains certainly possess
the necessary characteristics to be places of sacred ceremonial
life in northern New Mexico and they are squarely within the
occupancy area of the Jicarilla. Sierra Grande in Union County,
the largest individual mountain in North America with a base
measured in circumference at 40 miles is just east of the
famous Capulin volcanic cone which is now a National Monument.
Broke Off Mountain in Rio Arriba County has similar although
quite diminished features but is also a volcanic cone, a volcanic
stump in this instance. Since these sites are away from existing
military lands, they are cited because they may form a triangulation
of sacred sites, the lands within which may contain shrines
and holy places sufficiently near military lands to be noted.
Colfax County, east of Taos, also contains
Cuesta Del'Osha Peak on the slopes of which grow the osha
plant which has a taste like celery and has great medicinal
value. Jicarilla Apaches, Taos Pueblo, the old Pecos Pueblo
whose former inhabitants now live at Jemez Pueblo, Utes and
possibly Comanche, Cheyenne and Arapaho have used this site
to gather medicinal herbs, most particularly osha. In San
Juan and Rio Arriba counties there are several peaks which
have a significance for the Jicarilla but since they are also
important to the Navajo and Tewa-speaking Pueblos they will
be discussed below.
Comanche
This tribe's (Foster 1991; Richardson 1933)
far-reaching spiritual roots extend far back into prehistory.
The Comanche were once a part of the Shoshone people, most
probably the largest of the eastern division of that widespread
nation. Tradition says they split because of a serious epidemic
and moved southwards along the foothills of the Rockies until
they came to the western Oklahoma grasslands. Until the 1870s
the Comanche played a critical role in the history of eastern
and central New Mexico. Attracted to the Rio Grande settlements
by the affluence produced by the introduction of Spanish manufacturing
crafts, the Comanche made frequent forays into the Rio Grande
Valley and were eventually the cause of the Rio Grande pueblos
uniting with Spanish military posts for protection of their
villages. In 1785 the Spanish made peace with the Comanches
in a series of treaties that affected the Spanish frontier
from quite near the Mississippi River in Louisiana to the
western reaches of present day New Mexico.
Eastern New Mexico was the scene of frequent
Comanche invasions, often simply a passageway to the richer
towns in Sonora, Durango, and Nueva Vizcara in Mexico. Comanches
also conducted punitive raids against the Lipan and Mescalero
Apache under the terms of their treaty with the Spanish, venturing
as far as northern Arizona to intimidate recalcitrant Navajos,
and virtually ravaging the northern pueblos until trading
agreements were established. Locations in the eastern plains
of New Mexico, therefore, have a strong relationship to the
Comanche and are often shared locations with the Chiracahua
whose bands also traveled across these desert-like plains.
Sacred sites of importance to the Comanche would have a certain
historical flavor because of the sporadic nature of their
occupation of the eastern plains. Traditional people today
would probably remember locations where ceremonies were performed
and regard these sites as sacred. They would not be expected
to fall within the original creation-migration traditions,
however, which seem to originate in the Idaho-Oregon area.
In Colfax County, west of Raton, there is
a rock called the Buffalo Head which does in fact resemble
a buffalo head. Since the Plains Indians saw this animal as
a brother, a representative of Mother Earth, and the chief
personification of the feminine, this location was used for
Sacred dances by many of the Plains tribes, particularly the
Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa and Comanche. Near Fort Sumner in
Baca County is a large cave of gypsum, rock which has many
passageways, some leading back as far as 500 feet from the
entrance. Today it is known as Diamond Cave. It has historical/
religious importance for some groups of Comanches who once
used it. In Roosevelt County, southeast of De Baca, stands
Eagle Hill, a high chalk hill which was the roosting place
for many eagles until historical times. The Comanche and probably
Chiracahua Apache gathered their eagle feathers at this location.
Ceremonies would be required of both groups when dealing with
this bird.
Tucumcari Mountain, near the present day city
of the same name, was called Cuchtonaro (Comanche kutsinaro'i
"she will put it on the fire to cook"). One tradition
explains this name as indicating that the mountain was used
for signal fires for gathering together Comanche war parties
for raids on Rio Grande settlements. Most probably the Comanche
oral tradition has a better explanation that goes such further
back in Comanche history. In Lea County there used to be a
location called Monument Springs which consisted of a 45-foot
high caliche rock marker that was visible for 35 miles and
indicated where a spring existed. The origin of this tradition
is undoubtedly from the Comanches and most probably marked
a sacred spring where healing ceremonies took place.
Most of the Comanche sites are some distance
from existing military lands but a number of them must be
within air space used by the military and therefore a possible
conflict regarding flyovers may exist. The Comanche intrusions
into New Mexico were quite often for the purpose of raiding
Indian tribes and Spanish settlers living much farther south
in northern Mexico. Habitual resting locations were the scene
of consolidation of forces but would also involve ceremonial
preparation for the task ahead and condolence rituals for
losses suffered on these ventures. Consequently, we can expect
to find some kinds of Comanche burials along a route from
these locations toward Mexico and further knowledge of these
locations presently possessed by traditional Comanches will
quite possibly point to other sacred locations within either
the Fort Bliss or White Sands military installations.
Navajo
Navajo and Pueblo sacred sites are quite numerous
in the New Mexico area. Sometimes they are in close proximity
to each other and are used by either group without conflict.
The New Mexico Archaeology Records Management System (ARNS)
has close to one million separate locations identified; the
majority of these places have cultural significance and a
large percentage are burials and ruins. Important sacred locations
are best identified through tribal offices. Contact with the
Navajo Nation offices in Window Rock would enable base commanders
to obtain the tribal position on sacred sites as well as the
name of local chapter representatives who would be concerned
with site protection. In the Environmental Impact Statement
for the proposed Fort Wingate to White Sands Missile Range
missile shots (USSSDC 1994), the Navajo expressed concern
that flying missiles might pierce the "dome of the spirit"
which is the air space represented by visualizing a dome placed
over the area enclosed by the four sacred Navajo mountains.
Such an intrusion would disrupt the spiritual harmony of the
lands within the four sacred mountains and perhaps effect
the efficacy of ceremonies conducted within the reservation
or at locations adjacent to the Navajo communities.
Cabezon Peak, a giant volcanic plug rising
2,200 feet above the surrounding plain some 40 miles west
of Albuquerque, is particularly sacred to the Navajos since
it figures prominently in their prehistoric traditions. The
Navajos call the site Tsézhiih Deezlí which
means "Black Rock"; it is believed to be the head
of a giant killed by the Twin War Gods. Although not within
a military land area, the problem here would be fly-overs
from the Kirtland Air Force Base during religious ceremonies.
Other mountains of immediate religious significance
to the Navajo are El Huerfano (the Orphan) in San Juan County.
The Navajo name for this mountain is Dzit Ná'ooditii
and it rises from a flat plain by itself, creating a sense
of awe and power. Crownpoint in McKinley County is a crown-shaped
butte on the edge of a plain and has religious significance.
Mount Taylor in Valencia is called by the Navajo Tsoodzit
(big, tall mountain). Its ceremonial name is Doott'izhii Dzit
(turquoise mountain) and it is one of the mountains marking
out the boundary of Navajo ethnic territory. It has creation
and emergence connotations. Shiprock, in San Juan County,
is called by the Navajo Tsé Bit'a'í (the rock
with wings).
The Navajo (Kluckhohn and Leighton 1946),
like their Athabascan-speaking relatives the Apache, see superior
power that exists in and of itself in locations. Non-Indian
scholars have implied the presence of "spirits"
and "gods" but this terminology is not really applicable
to the Navajo conceptions and understanding. Smaller buttes,
springs, and specific locations where plants can be harvested
have power to affect the humans who interact with them. Consequently
most of the sacred sites of the Navajo are those locations
where local medicine people have discerned the existence of
power and represent a complex of location relationships, not
solitary sites.
Pueblo
Much work has been done by the State Historic
Preservation Office (SHPO) to identify sacred sites and seal
in confidence information about locations important to Pueblo
people (Dozier 1970; Ortiz 1979). The task of recording known
sites is almost completed and consequently the best plan of
action is for a military installation to contact each Pueblo
individually and get Indian permission to contact the SHPO
to obtain more specific information. The Pueblos present a
unique geographic situation because most live close to each
other and have overlapping concerns. The Hopi (in Arizona),
Zuni, Acoma and Laguna pueblos are in the west, and the remainder
of the Pueblos live in the Rio Grande Valley from Taos south
to Albuquerque. For the Pueblos people living along the Rio
Grande, there is a substantial overlapping and interconnection
of religious traditions and ceremonies. In practical terms
this means that almost every location identified as a sacred
site has multiple Pueblo interests.
The Pueblos, perhaps more than any other Indian
group, have a tradition of visiting remote sacred sites in
annual and specific ceremonial times. Pilgrimages may re-enact
ancient stories, the emergence from other worlds, or serve
the purpose of maintaining the linkage between and among sacred
sites so as to preserve their power. Sacred sites do not exist
in isolation; each site points to or sustains other locations
and exists within a network or complex of sites. The key to
understanding the complex of sacred sites is the province
of spiritual authorities of the Pueblos. Nevertheless, DoD
personnel should get the flavor of this complexity from the
discussion of known sites, most of which are affected by flyovers
and some of which are located within the boundaries of present
military lands. The linkage of sacred sites in the Rio Grande
Valley is such that ceremonial activities and pilgrimages
may need to be performed within military locations.
Buckman Mesa near Santa Fe is a large lava-topped
mesa on the south side of the Rio Grande near San Ildefonso
Pueblo. According to the legends of this Pueblo the hole in
the top of the Mesa is one of four places from which fire
and smoke came in ancient times. It therefore has connections
with other worlds. A related peak is called Gigantes and is
sacred because of its relationship to Tsaveyo, one of the
most famous giants of ancient times.
Coyote Springs in Bernalillo County was used
as a medicinal and healing location because of its supply
of carbonated water. It is presently within the Sandia Military
Reservation. Jicarita Mountain in Mora County on the eastern
slope of the mountains is sacred to the Picuris Pueblo and
has a shrine at its crest which is shaped like a large inverted
basket. The lava beds extending westward from McCartys to
Grants contain scores of extinct volcanoes, and many hollow
lava tubes, and are comparatively recent in origin. Laguna
and Acoma people use many sites in this general region as
ceremonial locations and the Laguna story of the "Year
of the Fire" may commemorate this volcanic outpouring.
Manby Hot Springs located twelve miles northwest
of Taos is a group of medicinal springs used by many of the
Pueblos. Ojo Caliente in Rio Arriba County near Taos is regarded
as the dwelling place of the powers that help the northern
Pueblos. The springs were the opening or portal between this
world and the world below, and hence have an "emergence"
characteristic. The grandmother of Poseyemo, a Tewa hero,
is said to still live in one of the springs. San Antonio Mountain
marks the boundary of the Tewa-speaking Indian world and has
living relationship with other mountains in the south, east
and west. San Miguel Mountain west of Las Vegas was believed
to have been carved by erosional forces into a face which
represents the personification of the creative power. Within
the Pueblo tradition all mountains have the capability to
project the face of the power that made them but only here
is the likeness clear enough for people to understand.
The number of sacred sites in the Albuquerque
area is substantial. Specific Pueblos have their shrines and
some locations are sacred to a number of Pueblos and mark
out creation, emergence and migration locales. Albuquerque
also has two major military installations: Kirtland Air Force
Base and the Sandia Military Reservation. The Sandia Mountains
are the southern boundary of the Pueblo lands. The majority
of ceremonial activities will be north and west of the mountains.
Some gathering of plants and medicines will be done in the
Sandia Mountains adjacent to the military reservations. Consultation
with the State Archaeologist and the All Pueblo Council will
enable base commanders to make the proper contacts within
the individual Pueblos.
Oklahoma
Historically this state (Figure 4.15) was
to be the location of the surviving members of the Indian
nations of the United States (Wright 1986; Paredes 1992; Williams
1979; Debo 1962). In the eastern part of the state and near
Oklahoma city are remnants of the tribes who once lived in
the eastern United States and were removed in the 1820 to
1840s. A good many of these peoples, deprived of the sacred
landscape of their homelands, have preserved religious and
political societies but seem to have lost the ceremonies and
traditions which linked them to ancestral lands. Much knowledge
still remains in some tribes.
The Cherokee (Royce 1887; Woodward 1963),
for example, continue to maintain a ceremonial sense of the
old homeland and the Kentooah Band of the Cherokees in the
Sequoyah v.Tennessee Valley Authority case sued in the late
1970s to halt construction of the Tellies Dam and inundation
of the Little Tennessee River. Muskogee/Creek (Green 1979),
Yuchi (Speck 1979), and Choctaw (Debo 1961; Kidwell and Roberts
1980) traditional people continue to visit traditional religious
sites east of the Mississippi River.
The aboriginal connection with particular
mountains and rivers east of the Mississippi has been severed,
but healing ceremonies and ceremonies involved in prophecy
and naming still exist among the tribes removed to Oklahoma.
The military presence in eastern Oklahoma, represented primarily
by the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant southwest of that city,
and groups of traditional Indian people may want access to
military graveyards for memorial and condolence purposes.
In general these activities would probably reflect more contemporary
mixtures of Christian prayers and hymns and traditional blessings.
In western Oklahoma are several locations
sacred to the tribes who once roamed the area. Rainy Mountain,
for example, is sacred to the Kiowa and remains a ceremonial
location. But like western Kansas, this region was more of
a mutually shared hunting area and less of a permanent occupancy
location. Most of the religious ceremonies that would involve
military lands in this area would be commemorative, a contemporary
mixture of Christian and traditional rites of mourning, memorial,
blessing and thanksgiving.
Fort Sill, the final living place of the remnants
of the Chiracahua Apache, where Geronimo died, has a number
of sites that were used by these Apache people during their
time as prisoners of war. Medicine Bluff and Medicine Bluff
Creek were used by the Apache for various ceremonial purposes
during the last century and are frequently used today by traditional
Kiowa. They are now on listed the National Register of Historic
Places.
Oregon
Oregon (Figure 4.16) has a statewide survey
of archaeology sites, including many possible sacred sites;
locational and other information on the archaeology sites
is available from the Oregon State Historic preservation Office
on a need to know basis. Federally recognized tribes in Oregon
(Buan and Lewis 1992) are the Grand Ronde, Cow Creek, Klamath,
Umatilla, Warm Springs, Siletz, Lower Umpqua, Coos Bay, and
Burns Paiute. There are also two traditional fishing villages
on the Columbia River, Chetco and Celilo. Indian people with
ancestral ties to the Clatsop and Chinook tribes also live
in Oregon and are in the process of seeking Federal acknowledgment.
Tribal representatives can be contacted through the tribal
government of the respective reservations or, in the case
of traditional villages, through the SHPO. We have identified
a number of Indian sacred sites but they are generally far
from existing military lands and in some cases overgrown by
urban settlements.
The major Cascade peaks, Crater Lake, Three
Sisters and Mount Hood, and the Columbia River locations such
as The Dalles, Cascades, and Bridge of the Gods form a geographical/geological
network of sacred locations for the tribes of this state.
There may well be sites on or near military lands that are
featured in a creation or migration tradition centering around
one of these major landmarks.
In eastern Oregon the Boardman Bombing Range
and the Umatilla Army Depot have sites within their borders
that were used as vision quest and healing locations by the
Warm Springs and Umatilla tribes. While there are few identified
creation sites in eastern Oregon, the ceremonial sites are
more important for these people because of the tendency within
the region to deal with psychological soul loss and illness
as manifesting underlying psychic disorder. The DoD should
initiate negotiations with the Umatilla and Warm Springs tribal
governments as a way of dealing with the sacred site problem
in this state.
Texas
Once a republic which signed treaties with
both indigenous and later colonizing tribes (Taite 1986; Salinas
1990; Hester 1991), by the end of the 1840s Texas (Figure
4.17) had pretty much been cleared of Indian tribes with the
exception of the panhandle where the Kiowa and Comanche still
maintained a strong presence. The Lipan Apache who once controlled
much of west Texas east of El Paso were substantially reduced
by incessant warfare with the Spanish, Mexicans, and Comanche
by the time of American settlement in the area. The Caddoan
villages which once controlled large areas in eastern Texas
were also substantially reduced prior to American intrusion,
and the Gulf tribes, such as the Karankawa, were virtually
extinct shortly after American settlement and the Texas war
for independence.
Traces of former Indian occupation can be
seen in various parts of Texas, particularly in the western
regions where the Comanche and Kiowa lived until the 1870s.
A Medicine Wheel has been identified at Fort Hood (see Chapter
Seven) and ceremonies were held, led by William Tall Bull,
a northern Cheyenne spiritual leader, to bless and renew the
site. Three Legacy projects have been funded involving Fort
Hood. In 1991 Legacy Project #17 was funded and in 1992 Legacy
Projects #304 and #522 were also funded. The Fort Hood experience
is a good model to be used by other military installations
in dealing with traditional Indian people.
Painted Bluff in Edwards County and Painted
Rock in Concho County have an outstanding number of pictographs
and rock paintings. Paint Rock has more than 1,500 paintings
scattered along the bluff of the Concho River for more than
half a mile. The Painted Bluff site has pictographs along
the Cedar Creek fork of the Nueces River.
In Texas the vast majority of the contacts
between traditional Native religious practitioners and the
military will be occasions similar to the Fort Hood experience.
Fort Bliss near El Paso may have requests from the Mescalero
Apache traditional people or the people from the Tigua settlement
of Isleta del Sur seeking access to Guadalupe Peak and surrounding
areas for ceremonial purposed or gathering of medicinal and
ceremonial plants.
Utah
This state (Figure 4.18) has Great Basin desert
and high plateau geological features with ancient salt flats
from Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, extensive canyons and extremely
rugged mountains with a few river valleys that run through
the state. The land is perceived by many observers as inhospitable
and as encouraging settlement by small groups in a manner
similar to Nevada and southern Idaho. Traditionally Gosiutes
(whose language is extremely similar to Shoshone; see Thomas,
Pendleton, and Cappanari 1986), Utes (Conetah 1982; Smith
1974), and Southern Paiutes (Euler 1973; Holt 1992) lived
in riverine oases and used upland natural resources. Gosiute
people need access to the restricted testing areas such as
Wendover, Deseret, Dugway and Hill Air Force Range west of
Great Salt lake, and a major problem is of military planes
in areas of concentrated sacred sites in southeastern Utah.
The Uintah and Ouray Reservation in the northeast
corner of Utah is occupied by indigenous Ute bands as well
as Ute bands removed from Colorado in the 1880s. In the southeast
corner of Utah is a small portion of the Navajo reservation,
which has its major land holdings in Arizona. In the southwest
corner of Utah is the Shivwits Paiute reservation near St.
George, and to the north near Cedar City is the Paiute Indian
Tribe of Utah which is a composite tribe containing five formerly
terminated Paiute tribes including the Shivwits. Traditionally
other Indian groups such as the Hopi have come to Southern
Utah. The out-of-state eastern Shoshone and Bannock also have
ties to northern portions of Utah.
San Juan County, which covers the very southeastern
tip of the state, has a multitude of sacred sites. It is currently
used for ceremonial places by the Navajo and Paiute, and occasionally
by the Hopi and the Southern Ute, the most famous sacred sites
being within Natural Bridge National Park. Other locations
in the immediate vicinity include: Aztec Butte which contains
ancient ruins and is compared to the Hopi ancestral traditions,
Castle Creek Ruins which are near Green Water Spring and have
the same claim to antiquity, Nasja Mesa which has the owl
spirit and derives its name from a corruption of the Navajo
word for this bird (Navajo né'éshjaa' 'owl'),
and of course the Rainbow Bridge itself which was the subject
of a religious freedom lawsuit.
Of great importance in this part of Utah is
a place called Navajo Mountain in English and Kaivayaxarere
in the Southern Paiute language. The aboriginal inhabitants
of this area were Southern Paiutes. Today, the San Juan Southern
Paiute tribe has members residing at Navajo Mountain jointly
residing with the Navajo people. There are both Paiute and
Navajo beliefs about this mountain. Southern Paiute beliefs
are summarized in Bunte and Franklin (1987).
According to Navajo beliefs this mountain
is the first earth home of the human beings. Here we have
a unique version of an emergence story in that instead of
coming from the underground the first couple arrive from the
tip of a rainbow. Navajo Mountain is the center of a religious
geography which extends in every direction. It has relationships
with other mountains great distances away and consequently
may enter into discussion regarding the sanctity of other
locations near military installations.
The Oquirrh Mountains in Tooele County near
Salt Lake have a number of locations which have traditionally
been used by the Gosiute people for religious ceremonies.
Efforts to translate the name of these mountains have produced
such designations as "wooded" mountain, "cave"
mountains, "west" mountain, and "shining"
mountain. This is probably a ceremonial complex involving
several locations rather than bad linguistics. Some locations
in the Oquirrh Mountains may point toward desert springs locations,
and others may be part of religious pilgrimages. Consultation
with traditional Gosiute people will resolve the confusion.
Granite Mountain or Dugway Mountain has special
religious significance for the Gosiute people. It lies midway
between Skull Valley and the Goshute Reservations and consequently
is important to both groups. Gosiute religious traditions
do not radically differ from those of the desert Paiute and
Shoshone and consequently Granite Mountain is probably a sacred\power
site similar to what we see identified in Nevada.
In general, the chances of conflict between
military installations in Utah and traditional practitioners
of tribal religions are not great and at most may involve
granting access to sacred springs in fringe areas of some
of the proving grounds. The multitude of sacred sites in southern
Utah, and these locations are clustered in groups of peaks
and mesas across the entire length of the state, are cited
because they form geographical connections to traditions about
the ancient days, creation and migration accounts, and may
be mentioned by traditional people in proving the sacredness
of other locations which they have kept secret until now.
Washington
The SHPO cultural resource inventory of the
State of Washington (Figure 4.19) includes sacred sites described
under a general category of "cultural treasures."
Each of the Federally recognized tribes in the state (Gibbs
1978; Interior Salish and Western Washington Tribes 1974),
as well as one petitioning for Federal recognition, has its
own Traditional Cultural Properties committee which works
with the state and Federal agencies to provide documentation
on the sites which it designates as having cultural significance.
The basic approach taken by the State Archaeologist is to
refer inquiries to individual tribal committees.
The major mountains and volcanoes of the state,
Mt. St. Helens, Mount Rainier, Mount Baker, Three Sisters,
and the Olympic peninsula peaks are related in religious tradition
to tribes on both sides of the Cascades although the particular
stories may differ considerably. It is theoretically possible
to correlate all these stories and project an approximate
time sequence in which the state was settled although that
task has never been attempted. It should not be surprising,
then, to learn that the Yakamas who live east of the mountains
also have sacred sites within the Fort Lewis military lands
which are west of the mountains. Other tribes have widely
scattered sites like the Yakama. In the state overall there
is considerable overlap in some areas, particularly river
banks and berry patches which are used by several groups.
The Naval Underwater Warfare Engineering Station
at Keyport has a Legacy Project (#39), funded in 1991 and
1992, which is now classifying its data. Locations here would
be important to the tribes and villages of the inland sound
near Bremerton. Fort Lewis has vision quest and burial sites
important to the Nisqually, Yakama, and Wanapum. The Puyallup,
Squaxin, Dwamish and other tribes of the southern Puget Sound
area also have some traditional cultural sites in the Fort
Lewis and adjacent prairie areas. Two major military installations
in eastern Washington are Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane
and the Yakama Firing Range east of Yakima.
In addition to the Cascade mountains, Rainier
Mountain inside the Hanford Department of Energy Site is sacred
to the eastern tribes. Steptoe Butte marks the site where
the Yakamas survived the scablands flood (Allen, Burns, and
Sargent 1986), and Tominin Rock is regarded as having religious
significance. The Columbia River is under U.S. Coast Guard
jurisdiction and it may be that its responsibilities will
supersede those of the military with respect to locations
along the river.
The tribes of Washington state have a reputation
of taking care of business and being on top of developments
in fields which interest or affect them. They have led the
way in devising compacts for state-tribe relations (see Appendix
O) and consequently the DoD should seriously consider initiating
working agreements wherever possible to protect sacred sites
on or adjacent to their installations.
Wyoming
Wyoming (Figure 4.20) has certain characteristics
like western Kansas and Oklahoma in that it was occupied by
numerous Indian groups the majority of whom used the lands
for hunting and warfare rather than permanent occupation.
The Crow, Shoshone, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, Sioux,
and Pawnee claim certain locations as sites of religious significance.
Some traditions even suggest that the Blackfeet and some Salish
bands occasionally traveled into the eastern Wyoming area
on hunting and war forays. The Medicine Wheel at Powell is
claimed by a large number of tribes probably because it is
the most prominent of these kinds of constructions and because
it apparently has connections with a great number of lesser
sites scattered across the Wyoming-Montana-Nebraska-Dakotas
region.
The northern slopes of the Rockies in Colorado
and the Laramie Mountains in Wyoming were used extensively
by the Northern Arapaho for vision quests and medicinal gatherings.
The Pawnee and Osage also had seasonal locations which they
used for hunting, refurnishing tipi poles, and gathering medicinal
plants. By and large, however, these sites are not often used
today. On the western side of the Black Hills, in Wyoming,
are numerous locations sacred to the Sioux nation including
the "Devil's Tower" which is called "Bear's
Lodge" by these people. A number of sites extending south
along the western side of the Black Hills almost to Laramie
were used by the Sioux for summer ceremonial activities devoted
to the buffalo. Some picture rocks also exist in this area,
although it is not known whether they are used today.
The Warren Air Force Base at Cheyenne is the
only major military installation in the state that would have
a bearing of sacred sites. Some burial ceremonies have been
held when human remains were uncovered, with some spiritual
leaders coming from the Sioux reservations in South Dakota
to perform them. The interest of the Arapaho in some of the
lands is beginning to be expressed so that there may be an
opportunity to meet some Northern Plains spiritual leaders
and establish a liaison with them. Some pictographs may be
within the boundaries of the base but since there is some
discussion on how the tribes who used this area treated pictographs,
we cannot say with any certainty that they represent sacred
sites or even that they represent the presence of the contemporary
tribes who would be contacted about the matter. Like a number
of other military installations, we can anticipate the uncovering
of burial sites which might need ceremonial re-internment.
Shoshone traditions are among the oldest in
Native North America. Ella Clark's (1966) collection Indian
Legends of the Northern Rockies contains several accounts
of Shoshone occupation of the Big Horn basin at a very early
geological time when it was an inland sea. New interdisciplinary
work in geomythology argues that this tradition may be a preservation
eye-witness account of the origin of the Yellowstone River.
Summary
There appear to be few places in the western
United States where military installations have sites that
are sacred to Indian tribes. In New Mexico, California, Washington
and Idaho problems exist but are not critical. Various Legacy
programs have made it possible for traditional Indian spiritual
leaders and tribal governments to sit down and discuss how
to work together. For most of the locations that have been
listed above, the problem of flyovers by military aircraft
would seem to be most common.
State historical and cultural agencies, inspired
by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act (NAGPRA) and other Federal laws, have done a lot of work
to compile inventories of the various locations which tribes
wish to protect. When we came across state agencies that had
already consulted with the tribes and invoked confidentiality,
we did not contact the tribe with yet another request that
they share their information. Too many people are already
attempting to gain access to confidential information and
we did not want to provoke an incident that might reflect
badly on the DoD.
Since our original intent in this study was
to locate specific sites which might have the potential for
future conflict of a religious nature, our identifications
are sufficient to orient base commanders as to the general
background of the religious site. The study was originally
to have been in two small parts: preliminary identification
of areas that were of concern and small focus groups composed
of military personnel and tribal officials who could begin
discussions on establishing a working relationship with tribal
governments. When the second step of the project was not funded,
we were simply left with the general description of those
places which are or will be important and of religious concern
to the traditional spiritual leaders.
