TIPPING NAGPRA'S BALANCING ACT

Matthew H. Birkhold has won the National Native American Law Students Association's 10th Annual Student Writing Competition with his essay on "Tipping NAGPRA's Balancing Act: the inequitable disposition of 'culturally unidentified' human remains under NAGPRA's new provision."

NAGPRA is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the "new provision" refers to the Department of Interior's controversial new regulations for the disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains.

Birkhold concludes:
"Although the new regulation was enacted to restore the law's equilibrium, by undermining NAGPRA's broader principles in the process, the new rule capsizes NAGPRA's balancing act to the detriment of all the diverse interests invested in Native American human remains."

Birkhold's paper can be read in its entirety at the William Mitchell Law Review webpage:
http://www.wmitchell.edu/lawreview/Volume37/documents/Birkhold.pdf

Links to the new regulation as well as responses from a variety of institutions and individuals, including the Ohio Historical Society, can be found at the Friends of America's Past website:
http://www.friendsofpast.org/nagpra/news.html

The FY 2010 Final Report of the National NAGPRA Program includes a brief mention of the comments the agency has received on the final rule. Strangely, the summary makes no mention of any of the problems identified in Birkhold's paper or in the several letters from the institutions posted on the Friends of America's Past website. The report refers only to comments that suggested that there should be "…a review of whether disposition of associated funerary objects should be voluntary."

You can read the National NAGPRA Program FY 2010 Final Report here:
http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/DOCUMENTS/NAGPRA_FY10_Program_Report.pdf

Prairie Chickens in Ohio?

When Ohio birders think of Prairie Chickens, thoughts generally turn toward Effingham, Illinois. A couple of years ago I had the privilege of joining a group from the Columbus Audubon Society on a trip to see these fascinating birds at the Prairie Ridge State Natural Area a few miles east of Effingham.

We arrived at the refuge well before dawn and were led to the reservable observation blinds through the dark by the refuge manager. We quietly crowded into the two blinds, and then sat waiting for dawn. At least a half-hour before dawn we could begin to hear the faint and yet far away call of the Greater Prairie Chicken, Tympanuchus cupido. Their song, usually called “booming” carries far, but is a soft, non-musical, hollow-sounding song that has been described as "whhooo-doo-doooh." To me, it sounds sort of mystical or magical. Of course, much of that may be a result of the rarity of this bird and the amount of effort needed for an Ohioan to see and hear it. Add to that the magical atmosphere of twilight changing to dawn, and it is a wonderful experience. You can listen to this at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology site at: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Greater_Prairie-Chicken/sounds.

But Prairie Chickens in Ohio? Most folks would never imagine that possibility. In McCormac and Kennedy’s 2004 publication, Birds of Ohio the Prairie Chicken is not even mentioned, other than as a note on the checklist on page 346 that indicates “ex” which the key tells us means extinct or extirpated.

As you dig deeper, we discover that there are at least nine archaeological sites in southern Ohio that contained bones of Prairie Chickens. An effigy pipe in the shape of a Prairie Chicken was uncovered in a mound at the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park on the north edge of Chillicothe. These archaeological records show that between 1000 and 2000 years ago, Prairie Chickens were in Ohio and were utilized by American Indians of that time. Based upon the frequency of bones, they were probably already in relatively few numbers. Between 4,000 and 8,000 years ago there was a much warmer, drier climatic period known as the hypsithermal period. Sometimes this is just called the Prairie Peninsula Period, and it brought prairie into Ohio, and presumably the Prairie Chicken. Since that time, much of Ohio has reverted to forests and prairie areas have gradually gotten squeezed out. Yet, at the time of settlement, Ohio still had about 1500 square miles of prairie – and the Prairie Chicken had persisted. Clearing of the land for agriculture actually helped at first – as the dense forest areas were converted to pasture land for grazing by livestock that were needed to farm the land. In 1835, Toledo judge E. D. Potter reported seeing 500 Prairie Chickens “on Summit Street near Oak” and “thousands” on open land six miles west of town. But by 1879 Dr. J. W. Wheaton (an important early ornithologist as well as medical doctor) noted that while they could still be found in Wyandot and Sandusky Counties, they were now rare. Apparently, their populations came and went a couple of times – variously reported as extirpated in Ohio in 1903, and after several newer sightings, again in 1937.

But why did the Prairie Chicken disappear from Ohio? What brought about its demise? The total answer probably involves several factors. One would be a shift in agriculture from horse-drawn equipment to modern tractors, thereby also seeing a major reduction in pasture land. Early on, a major influence was market hunting. Modern, managed game hunting has never driven a species to extirpation or extinction – but market hunting was a totally different thing. Early in our state’s history there were no scientifically based game laws. Market hunters shot as many animals as they could, year-round. In 1857, Ohio passed its first law to protect species, and part of those regulations created a closed season. With this new law, you could only hunt Prairie Chickens for a 140-day season. But there was still no such thing as a bag limit. Audubon reported that at one point in time in Kentucky, they were so numerous that they sold for a penny apiece, but that 25 years later so many had been shot that they sold for $5 to $10 a pair. In 1873, more than 600,000 Prairie Chickens were sold in the markets of Chicago for $3.75 a dozen. In 1902 Prairie Chickens were given total protection in Ohio – but they may have been virtually gone anyway.

Perhaps a bigger, though less noticeable problem was competition. By 1900 Ring-necked Pheasants had been introduced into Ohio from their native home in China, Korea and southern Siberia. By 1932 their populations had exploded – with counts 200 to 300 pheasants per square mile in several parts of the state. Several observers noted pheasants chasing Prairie Chickens from their booming grounds. The booming grounds are where male Prairie Chickens perform their dance and their song – drawing in females with which they then mate. Being chased off before mating makes it hard to produce young – but of course, where there is a will there is often a way! More insidious is the practice of Ring-necked Pheasants to lay eggs in other pheasant nests – and nests of Prairie Chickens. Ground nesting birds synchronize hatching by delaying incubation until the last egg is laid. That way, all chicks hatch the same day, and leave the nest as soon as their feathers have dried. Prairie Chickens have an incubation period of 25 days – but pheasants only need 23 days. So the brooding mother Prairie Chicken with a single pheasant egg amongst her own brood abandons the nest as soon as the first pheasant hatches, leaving her entire clutch doomed to death.

We wanted this story to be a part of our exhibits in The Nature of Ohio exhibits. To do so, we were able to obtain the animal shown here (Catalog Number N 34524) from South Dakota, and have it mounted by Craig Ciola of LaRue, Ohio. That exhibit, and this Blog, really only provide an overview of the story of Ohio’s Prairie Chickens. To read more, you might want to pick up a copy of the Ohio Historical Society’s Timeline magazine dated June/July 1989 for my article “Competition Breeds Disaster: The Demise of the Prairie Chicken.” This issue is available at the Ohio History e-Store at http://www.ohiohistorystore.com/Timeline-Magazine-063-June-July-1989-P7271C45.aspx , or may be viewed in the OHS Library reading room.

Bob Glotzhober

EARLY DOCUMENTS TELL US ABOUT THE EARTHWORKS AND WHAT OHIO’S NATIVE AMERICANS THOUGHT ABOUT THEM

By some estimates, as much as 90% of the American Indian mounds and enclosures that once graced Ohio’s valleys have been destroyed. One important source of information about these lost sites lies in the archives of libraries around the state.

The Massillon Public Library, for example, has the Thomas Rotch papers in its collections. Rotch lived in Ohio during the early 19th century when most of the earthworks were still here and, by reading his papers, we can see these sites through his eyes and so learn more about what we have lost.

Rotch was a businessman, explorer and an operator of the Underground Railroad. He was a Quaker and so sympathetic to the plights of African slaves as well as the American Indians.

In a letter to his brother, Benjamin Rotch, written between March 14th and 17th 1811, Thomas describes what clearly appears to be the Shriver Circle, located a short distance to the southwest of Mound City along the Scioto River in Ross County.

Here are a couple of excerpts from this letter in which he provides valuable information both about the earthen enclosure itself as well as indirect testimony as to what the American Indian people that lived in the area thought about the earthwork:

“The entrenchment walls are now about ten feet high from the bottom of the ditch, with nine gateways the level of which is preserved into the fort, while on each side regularly commences the ditches & walls, and in various directions …
…notwithstanding I had read of these evidences of defense, yet I made so much allowance for imagination that doubts existed, which are now entirely removed. I went to the House of the present proprietor of this wonder who informed me that ten years ago the Indians were frequently there, but that he could not obtain the least information from them, not even of their having thought of its being the work of Man ...” (Rotch papers, A-30-5).

Rotch was wrong about the enclosures being intended as defensive fortifications, but this was the most common interpretation of the earthworks at that time and it does not detract from the historical value of the document.

Here is a link to my previous Blog on the Moundbuilder Myth, which touches upon the reasons the early pioneers thought the earthworks were forts:
http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2011/06/moundbuilder-myth.html

For more information about the Rotch collection, see the following link:
http://www.library.ohio.gov/marketing/Newsletters/TheNews/2010/August/RotchCollectionMassillonLibrary

The Ohio Historical Society Celebrates Ohio Archaeology Month in a “Grand” Way

The Ohio Historical Society celebrates Ohio Archaeology Month with the Grand Opening of the new archaeology exhibit Following in Ancient Footsteps and a day of presentations on Saturday, October 15th in the Auditorium at the Ohio History Center, 800 East 17th Avenue, Columbus, OH.

10:30am: The Moorehead Circle at Fort Ancient: preliminary results of the 2011 Wright State University Field School Excavations, Wright State University. What are the latest discoveries at the highly complex Moorehead Circle, a Hopewell ceremonial feature at the Fort Ancient Earthworks? Could these discoveries change the way we look at prehistoric architecture?

11:30am: Excavations at Serpent Mound State Memorial, ASC Group. In 2011 ASC Group was contracted by OHS to conduct archaeological investigations in preparation for planned improvements at the site. What they found was quite interesting indeed!

1:30pm: In Search of Fort Recovery, Ball State University. This summer the Ball State University field school concentrated on searching for evidence of Fort Recovery related activities as part of a National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program grant. What were the results of the research? Come and find out!

2:30 pm: Results of the 2011 Fieldwork at Pickawillany, Miami County, Ohio, Hocking College. Pickawillany, a 1750's Miami Indian village and English trading post is the location of the first historically recorded conflict in what would become Ohio. What did the Hocking College students discover this year?

The presentations are free with admission. Museum hours are Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm and Sunday 12pm-5pm. Admission is $10/adult; $9/senior (60+); $5/youth (6-12); Free/Ohio Historical Society member; and Free/child (age 5 and under). Parking is free.

Come join us in the celebration!

For additional information please contact Linda Pansing, Curator of Archaeology at lpansing@ohiohistory.org or 614-298-2061.

To keep up to date on current archaeological activities, updates and discussion from the staff of the Ohio Historical Society visit our Archaeology Blog http://www.ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/

Ohio Archaeology Month is an annual event coordinated by the Ohio Archaeological Council. The mission is to promote awareness of Ohio’s cultural heritage as revealed through nearly 200 years of archaeological research. A series of statewide educational events designed to highlight archaeological research throughout Ohio are planned. Detailed information on each event can be found on the Ohio Archaeological Council’s website http://www.ohioarchaeology.org/.

NEW ONLINE JOURNAL OF KENTUCKY ARCHAEOLOGY

The Journal of Kentucky Archaeology is a new journal that will be of interest to all readers of this blog. It is an online journal with a focus on "the archaeology of Kentucky" as well as papers in "anthropology, folklore, historical geography, and architectural history" with some connection to Kentucky. Finally, papers "on subjects outside the state of Kentucky, but with direct relevance to Kentucky, will also be considered."

The first volume includes a paper by Cleveland Museum of Natural History archaeologist N'omi Greber on "Adena in Ohio and Hopewell in Kentucky: In Honor of R. Berle Clay."

Check it out --

http://campus.murraystate.edu/academic/j_ky_arch/Journal_Kentucky_Archaeology/