[OR_Archaeology] Oregonian has article about new video "Native Remains & Law"

[Susan White]

Here's the link-

http://www.oregonlive.com/clackamascounty/index.ssf/2009/10/clackamas_county_state_agencie.html

Clackamas County, state agencies, tribes work to protect sacred sites
By Rick Bella, The Oregonian
October 11, 2009, 9:00PM


Dr. Karen Gunson, Oregon state medical examiner, helped produce a new
DVD, "Native Remains and the Law,” in hopes that people will learn the
proper steps to take when bones or other burial remains are found. Capt.
Walt Markee of the Oregon State Police still thinks about Jack Lee
Harelson, a Grants Pass insurance agent turned grave robber. Harelson
plundered more than 2,000 artifacts from Native American grave sites in
Oregon and Nevada and later tried to have a former business partner
killed.

Harelson's case, which made headlines earlier in the decade, has faded
from memory for most. But Markee clearly remembers how investigators
recovered the headless bodies of two Paiute children, swaddled in
plastic garbage bags.

Harelson, 69, is serving a 10-year term in the Eastern Oregon
Correctional Institution in Pendleton for his murder-for-hire scheme and
was fined $2.5 million by a federal judge for destroying archaeological
resources.

"But the thing that struck me is I'm sure Harelson thought he was a
good amateur archaeologist," said Markee, who oversees OSP fish and game
enforcement. "I think in his mind, he thought he was doing good. And
there are a lot of people out there who think that way."

The case struck a particularly sour chord with Oregon's nine federally
recognized Native American tribes.

"How would you feel if I went into your cemetery, dug up your
grandfather and took the artifacts out?" said Armand Minthorn, spiritual
leader of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
"How would you feel?"

In hopes of preventing further desecration, the state medical
examiner's office has teamed up with the tribes, state police and the
Clackamas County Sheriff's Office to produce an educational DVD that is
being distributed to police, prosecutors, county medical examiners and
search-and-rescue teams that encounter remains.

Titled "Native Remains and the Law," the DVD explains Oregon law, lays
out uniform procedures when remains are uncovered and explains Native
Americans' concerns about their ancestors' resting places.

The DVD reinforces that police must determine whether they have found a
homicide victim, remains of an accidental death or someone who has gone
missing, as opposed to a pioneer grave or Native American remains. But
if local authorities even suspect they have found Native American
remains, they are legally required to call Oregon State Police, who will
alert the medical examiner; the state Historic Preservation Office; and
the state Commission on Indian Services, which will contact the
appropriate tribes.

"The state of Oregon not only protects Indian artifacts on public land
but on private land, too," said Dr. Karen Gunson, state medical
examiner. "That's important for people to know."

In the bad old days, Gunson said, remains were quickly dug up and
shipped to the medical examiner's office for investigation.

"We don't want that -- and the tribes don't want that," Gunson said.
"It's better to leave the remains where they are until everyone can
determine what should be done. And in any case, excessive photos should
not be taken, displayed or released to the media. This would be
disrespectful to the tribes."

Nici Vance, a state forensic scientist, often is called to investigate
the nature of the remains that have been uncovered. She said she looks
for clues such as shell casings, buttons or jewelry that may indicate a
death was relatively recent. After that, she looks for indicators such
as arrowheads or other flint points, stone tools or items made of shell
or bone.

"These items are often called grave goods," said Vance, who has a
doctorate in anatomy. "These are the kinds of treasured items that were
buried with loved ones."

State forensic scientist Nici Vance shows off a deer tibia, which often
is confused with a human bone. Vance says the fused growth plates on the
ends of the bone would be an obvious sign to a trained observer.Vance
also said she also can judge by dental wear. Native Americans, who
ground maize with stone tools, regularly ate food containing tiny bits
of grit that wore down their molars.

"That kind of wear indicates right away that we are looking at Native
American remains and that the appropriate steps must be taken."

Depending on the location and the situation, those steps may include
reburial by the appropriate tribe. Returning to the earth is important
to the tribes.

"When I die, my body goes back to the ground," said Minthorn. "I'm
fulfilling a promise, but also the land is fulfilling its promise by
taking care of my body and my heart and my bones. My body is to remain
in that ground until the world ends. If my bones are removed from that
ground before the end of time, there is a violation."

OSP Lt. Steve Lane urged police to simply slow down and look at all the
evidence when remains are uncovered.

"Don't automatically assume you have a homicide," Lane said. "Native
remains can be found anywhere in Oregon. They're uncovered by
construction projects or even by plowing fields, and you have to show
the proper respect for the law and the tribes."

Eirik Thorsgard, cultural protection specialist for Confederated Tribes
of Grand Ronde, said it's hard to overemphasize the tribes' concerns
about treatment of remains.

"They're a direct connection to our past," Thorsgard said. "Without
them and the history they have, we don't have a future. There's a strong
feeling in the tribe that without a history you don't have a future, so
it's real important to protect things that represent our past."

-- Rick Bella