In New England, the victors and oppressors have successfully shaped the pre-contact narrative--without Tribal consultation. It is time for that shameful practice to end. New England is rich in Native American ceremonial stone landscapes--places where stones were carefully placed, grouped, propped, shaped, and/or split, etc. for sacred purposes. Celestial alignments in these places form the foundation of ancient spiritual communication with Mother Earth. Elsewhere in North America, these ceremonial stone features are accepted for what they are, the work of Indigenous People. But in New England, colonial bias--and dare I say racism--have propelled the mainstream archaeological community to attribute all stone features in the region to European settlers.
The prevailing narrative insinuates that Indigenous People were not “advanced” enough to create the stone features found throughout New England. Dr. Paulette Steeves explains this phenomenon: “The archaeological construction of Indigenous people’s histories has been framed in Eurocentric thought and centered in power and control.” She adds that: “Benefits of control of the past in archaeology include the power to define the past of ‘‘others’’, capital gain, and the creation of social memories which dehumanize and disempower ‘‘others’’. [“Decolonizing the Past and Present of the Western Hemisphere (The Americas)”, P. 45/49 Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress (2015) DOI 10.1007/s11759-015-9270-2]
Consider the devastating consequences of the European invasion of what we now call New England. European-borne diseases killed some 90 percent of Indigenous People. Colonists forced those remaining to convert to Christianity upon pain of death, demonized their culture and beliefs, forced them to off their ancestral lands--often into slavery, or killed them outright. These traumas caused connections to traditional ways and knowledge to be hidden or lost.
Into this yawning chasm, archaeologists have inserted a colonial narrative. That historic narrative paints Indigenous People as ignorant, evil, savages, whose culture had nothing of value to contribute, and who needed to be saved from their sinful ways. The English perceived themselves as righteous in forcing them to become “good” Christians. The thinly veiled conclusion by archaeologists steeped in this Eurocentric mindset is that Indigenous People were not sophisticated enough to create any of the stone features we see in the landscape, therefore all must be colonial.
In her book The Land of Prehistory: A Critical History of American Archaeology, Alice Beck Kehoe adds context to this phenomenon: “The history of American archaeology . . . is a remarkable example of post hoc objectification of the doctrine of Manifest Destiny. From its inception, American archaeology has been politically charged, legitimating domination of North America by capitalists imbued with British bourgeois culture.” David Hurst Thomas puts it a bit more charitably in his book Skull Wars: “Like it or not, the historical disciplines are the products of Western tradition, and even anthropologists, protest as they might, are the prisoners of their own cultural backgrounds.”
Mercifully, the narrative is starting to change. Why? Because after generations of remaining silent, Native voices are speaking up. Tribal Elders are encouraging cautious openness about ceremonial stone landscapes out of concern that sacred places will be destroyed from ignorance of their very existence.
It is time for the archaeological community to wake from its colonial stupor to actively seek Tribal consultation, and recognize that answers do not come only from digging and peering into holes. Visit ceremonial places with openness. As Narragansett Hereditary Elder Tribal Medicine Man Lloyd “Running Wolf” Wilcox counselled: “In putting [ceremonial stone landscapes] in front of the public and government for judgment, do not rely on Tribal oral history and lore alone, that, they always find a way to ridicule and devalue. Instead, allow the landscape to speak for itself and allow the oral history and lore to stand as its witness.”
Places of spirit will reveal themselves to those who are open to their message, not to archaeologists mired in a petrified colonial mindset that blinds them to the truth.