Points Of A Bygone Age -- Ancient Tools, New Tensions -- Dig Near East Wenatchee Pits Indians Against Archaeologists

Scientists this month plan to reopen one of the Western Hemisphere's most important archaeological sites, a place visited 11,000 years ago by some of the most skilled hunters the world has ever seen.

But even as scientific excitement mounts, the project has become the focus of controversy, a classic example of the tension between Native Americans who resist the disturbance of ancient burials and scientists irritated by the increasing number of laws restricting access to archaeological sites.

In addition, bitter disagreements have arisen among archaeologists about how the dig should be carried out or even whether the site should be reopened this year at all.

Scientists can only guess why people - believed to be part of the first human migration south of the ice sheets that spanned North America - were at the site, now an apple orchard near East Wenatchee above the Columbia River.

They hunted mammoth and mastodon at a time when retreating ice still filled mountain valleys, and they left a cache of magnificent stone spear points. The weapons, known as Clovis points, were used only for a 500-year span ending 11,000 years ago, when they were replaced by a style of point easier to haft to a spear shaft.

The Colville Indian Tribe, with members who feel those early people were ancestors, is interested in the scientific mystery. But it also is concerned that the site might be a burial ground. Frustrated by its inability to postpone the project, the tribe said some members could stage a sit-in at the site Oct. 15, the day work is scheduled to resume.

``Our elders say that just the nature of the layout, the way the artifacts were found, tells them, at the minimum, this was a ceremonial site and they have a feeling it was probably a burial site, too,'' said Mathew Dick Jr., chairman of the tribe's cultural resources committee.

R. Michael Gramly, who will direct the excavation, thinks it's ``a rather long shot'' that human remains will be found. If they are, he said, they would be studied, probably at a laboratory at the North Central Washington Museum in Wenatchee, and then reburied after consultation with the Indians.

``I think Native American remains should be re-interred if they were originally interred intentionally,'' said Gramly, who has more than 20 years' experience exploring Clovis sites. ``And I'll tell you right now, there are many of my colleagues who would consider such an action (losing ancient human bones for future research) an anathema.''

But if human bones do turn up during excavation, Gramly is not sure they would be ancestors of modern Indians.

In his application for an excavation permit from the state, Gramly pointed out that East Asia, the presumed source of humans who entered the New World, ``is home to a variety of genetically distinct populations. Any or all of these groups could have participated in the peopling of the Americas. Some of these initial immigrants may have left no descendants who survived in the present era.''

But Dick, a descendant of members of the Wenatchee Band of Indians, said, ``If you listen to Indian legends told to my mother and to her grandparents before that, there are references that go back more than 11,000 years, and our people were here.''

The Colvilles, who over the years have worked out a relatively comfortable relationship with Pacific Northwest archaeologists, are suspicious of Gramly's East Coast connections. He is curator of anthropology for the Buffalo (N.Y.) Museum of Science.

``People from East Coast

tribes tell us scientists back there have a real bad attitude toward Native American people, that Indians are looked at as interfering with their right to dig,'' said Adeline Fredin, Colville tribal historian.

``We are told that in the East, human remains are not treated as of any concern to the affected tribe, as we do here in the Pacific Northwest.''

Fredin said the tribe would be more comfortable if Washington State University, which performed an exploratory dig two years ago, were still on the job. But Peter Mehringer, WSU professor of anthropology who directed the 1988 excavation, and Mack Richey, a Medina surgeon who owns the apple orchard where the artifacts were found, had a bitter falling out a year go.

Neither will say much about what led to their parting. Richey said it was because of ``philosophical and personal differences'' over how the project should be carried out. Among other things, Mehringer apparently objected to a proposal to open up the project to tours by schoolchildren and the public.

In fact, the Colvilles and others worry about a ``circus atmosphere'' at the site. Dick said, ``We have a strong feeling about what happens to the spirits of the dead,'' that they are unable to rest if their burial site is disturbed.

When Mehringer proposed a return to the site last year, he turned down a proposal from the North Central Washington Museum that it arrange school visits.

``He felt he was already taking care of informing the public,'' said Keith Williams, museum director. ``But Gramly is a museum person and understands the need and the right of the public to learn about this.''

Williams says 6,000 to 10,000 Wenatchee-area schoolchildren will tour the site during the four-week excavation. Visits by both schools and the public will be restricted to afternoons so that morning work will be uninterrupted.

``Remember, this will not be just an excavation but also an intellectual happening,'' Gramly said. ``We'll be bending over backward to educate visitors.''

Gramly's crew will be volunteers who are not necessarily experienced archaeologists, another factor that appalls both the Indians and some Northwest scientists. The workers will be from Earthwatch, a Watertown, Mass., organization that assists scientific projects worldwide by providing money and workers.

Sixteen volunteers, two eight-member teams, have paid $1,195 each for the privilege of assisting at the dig, and in addition will pay for transportation to and from the site. Jim Chiarelli, staff archaeologist for Earthwatch, said $8,000 or $9,000 went to the project after Earthwatch subtracted its expenses. Gramly estimates the field work will cost $40,000 to $50,000, most of which will be picked up by the Buffalo museum.

An Earthwatch publication said volunteers would have ``an extraordinary opportunity to excavate . . . one of the richest caches of prehistoric Clovis tools ever found.'' But Jacob Thomas, the state's historic-preservation officer who issued the excavation permit, said nonprofessionals will not perform sensitive work.

In fact, state archaeologist Robert Whitlam will take the unusual step of supervising the project to ensure that work meets high scientific standards.

``The people I'll have out there working were chosen not just for their experience in removing dirt but for their ability to educate,'' Gramly said. ``Many of them are teachers, some retired. I find them absolutely marvelous for talking to schoolchildren.

``But I alone will be responsible for the quality of science done there. No one cooks a good dinner when you have seven cooks stirring the pot. I'm the cook. It's as simple as that.''

Gramly has invited other archaeologists, including Vance Haynes of the University of Arizona, perhaps the nation's top expert on Clovis people.

Haynes, who has worked previously with Gramly, said he would visit the site in November.

Richey said Haynes, concerned about a delay, suggested that Gramly, with excellent academic credentials and a talent for communicating with the public, take over the project.

He added: ``Gramly is pretty good at communicating to both amateurs and professionals. He spends more time at it than most of us do.''

One of Gramly's attempts to communicate with amateurs, contributing articles to Indian Artifact magazine, infuriates the Indians and concerns state officials. The publication regularly features cartoons belittling the sanctity of Indian burials, runs articles by amateurs attacking regulations hampering collection of artifacts and advertises sales of artifacts that may have been collected illegally.

``I've written for 60 journals,'' Gramly responds. ``They pick that one just because it has a collectors' orientation. What about the other 59?'' He said he believes the magazine ``supplies a forum that reaches thousands of collectors, a very important audience we should pay attention to.''

At the least, Gramly might be guilty of bad timing. In an issue of Indian Artifacts published just before he applied for a state permit for the East Wenatchee dig, he questioned whether collectors should be subject to state laws since artifacts ``have little bearing upon the health, welfare and future prosperity'' of living people.

Gramly's permit is the first issued under a new state law, the most restrictive of its kind in the country, that extends protection to archaeological sites and graves on private property. When WSU dug in the East Wenatchee orchard in 1988, no permit was necessary.

Under the new law: ``If you see an arrowhead lying on the surface, you can pick it up. But (without a permit) you can't knowingly dig into or alter an archeological site, even if it's in your own back yard,'' said Thomas, the state official who issued the permit.

The state law allows 30 days for tribes to comment on an application for a permit to dig. When none was received, the state attorney general's office advised Thomas that the permit must be issued if all requirements were met. It was issued May 14.

Fredin, the Colville tribal historian, explained that descendants of the Wenatchee Band, which occupied that area in historic times, are divided between the Colville and Yakima reservations.

Communication with people on the two reservations took more time than the notice allowed, she said. ``The law is not compassionate to our needs.''

Despite Colville requests for a postponement, Thomas said the permit will stand unless there is a violation of regulations.

The 14 Clovis points removed from the East Wenatchee site now are in the Buffalo Museum of Science. At least some of them will be exhibited at the North Central Washington Museum in Wenatchee during the dig, but their future is uncertain. Site owner Richey, who also owns the points, says he wants them to be accessible to the public, preferably in this state, but he doesn't yet know where that will be.

Dick said the tribe is increasingly frustrated at not being able to arrange a meeting with Gramly or the governor.

``We are discussing whether we have to do something out of the ordinary,'' he said. ``Some tribal members are committed to going and sitting on the dig.''

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Clovis of distinction

The Clovis points at the East Wenatchee site were among the biggest ever found, up to 9 inches long. Archaeologists speculate they might have been ceremonial rather than for hunting. But if they were used on spears for hunting big game, they probably were thrust rather than thrown.

Clovis points, named for a site near Clovis, N.M., where they were identified in the 1930s, are found across North America but only at sites from 11,500 to 11,000 years old. Ancient toolmakers notched and grooved the base of Clovis points to make them easier to fasten to spear shafts. The distinctive style makes them easy for archaeologists to identify.

Clovis people were believed to be the first humans to appear south of ice barriers at the end ot the last ice age.