By GeophileHere is a photo of most of the people who attended the conference at the Ramada Inn at Delaware Water Gap, organized by Fred Werkheiser a few years ago. Fred is behind Norman Muller (Norman is in a black coat, second from the left in the front row).
The rest of the group is made up of descendants of native people, amateur archaeologists and rock pile enthusiasts, and academically accredited archaeologists. It made for a fascinating mix.
We went to many rock pile sites in Pennsylvania, plus one in New Jersey. There was much discussion (some of which I missed by going home each night). I'll never forget seeing Bob Redhawk, then chief of the Lenape Nation (black hat, back row) sitting down with Paul Nevin (second from the right, sort of in the back row) to tell him what many of the Susquehanna petroglyphs meant or what they meant to him, at least.
I was fortunate, at Oley Hills, to be present when a group of the native descendants quietly performed a ceremony in the Lenape language behind the big boulder in the main section while conference members were looking at other parts of the site.
The conference did not produce the most hoped for outcome, that of convincing the Archaeological Conservancy to buy a site, but for many people who attended it was a mind opener and thought provoker. Lots of talk, lots of laughs, lots of rocks . . . a great memory. I would love to do more stuff like that.
I am not in the photo, by the way, having been behind the camera.
I'll never forget Cara Blume, who I believe is the woman dressed in yellow in the front row. She lit into me at the Oley Hills site, denigrating my idea that the elaborate stonework there was Indian. I'm much further along now than I was then, and have much more ammo to support my position.
ReplyDeleteI remember that, Norman. I thought you handled it pretty well, under the circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThe archaeologists were up against it that weekend, with reality rising up and refuting that stuff they'd learned about eastern woodland Indians not building in stone. Some got pretty cranky!