Aboriginal Rights & Religion ARCHIVE

Native Stonework Sites in Eastern U.S. Saved
by Nancy on Sunday, 14 April 2002

Here is the story of what may be our (rag-tag group of stone-heads') first instance of permanent preservation of one of the hither-to largely unrecognized stonework sites that exist in the eastern United States.

The initiator and head honcho of the group has been finding and working to save these sites for decades. Most of the rest of us are comparative newcomers. Our connection with the Lenape Indians in the region surrounding the Delaware River has galvanized and informed our effort. From them we have learned of their knowledge of and ceremonial recognition of astronomical events, and the likelihood of alignments at sites where the landforms, the seasons, the passage into adulthood, especially of boys, and hunting and planting rituals were ceremonially celebrated. The site in question is a hillside with a row of squarish boulders running up one side of it. At the top end of this row is a boulder, about five feet high, six to seven feet long, with an eye carved in it and a large mouth wide open, possibly to receive offerings. It is certainly reptilian, very likely representing a turtle's head, as turtles, on whose back the earth was formed, are a very sacred symbol to the indigenous people. Nearby at the top of the hill, there is a large, worn mortar stone. On the other side of the hill is a very old drystone wall, a typical feature at sites here. (Some speculate that such walls were later ritual additions to much older sacred sites.) This wall ends in a stone sticking slant out of the ground, possibly a head, making the whole wall a snake effigy. This site is located at the confluence of two creeks, shortly before they empty into the Delaware River.

Because of imminent development, land there is going for large sums of money. When the lead member of our group went there recently to show the site to a person with whom we are working, the executor of the estate that includes the stonework hill saw him, and knowing who he was, told him he'd been wanting to talk with him. He explained he was selling off the land, but said he couldn't sell the hill like he was selling the rest of it because of its steepness, and its proximity to the river which requires considerable environmental measures to be taken if it is used. "We spoke with our attorney, and he told us we'd do better if we could donate this piece of property to a charity. We were thinking about a greenway association."

Greenway Associations are coalitions of various groups which join together for the purpose of cleaning up and preserving the natural areas in the watershed of a river. The executor asked if he knew anyone connected with the Greenway. Now, it happens that just recently the Greenway associated with the Delaware River had begun to work with the group of Lenape who work with us. (How we made their acquaintance is another amazing stonework-connected story for another day.) So our friend assured the executor that he would speak with Greenway about the site.

When he got home that evening, he called the chief of the PA Lenape to tell him the exciting news. The chief was especially pleased that he had called, because he had JUST arranged an appointment for him to meet with people from the Greenway, only three days on. Since then, the Greenway people in charge of land acquisition have spoken with the executor, the deceased owner's wife, and the real estate people. All systems seem to be go. With no effort on our part, our most immediately-threatened site appears to be saved.

There are many more threatened sites to go. But the avenue of preserving river-related sites through the combination of the Lenape and the Greenway provides a welcome alternative to the very slow, nearly impossible task of convincing the archaeological establishment that these sites should be protected at least until their nature is fully understood. The word of the Lenape that these sites are part of their tradition is meaningless to archaeologists and historians here unless there is corroborating evidence written by early European settlers. The Greenway Association, however, says the Indians' word is enough for them. They are eager to have reasons to preserve land, and are delighted to have learned that both the stonework and these local Lenape still exist, that people remain here who think of this place on the earth as their sacred homeland, who continue to perform the blessings of the rivers and the other ceremonies honoring the land.

Good news for the Lenape on another front. A property, not a stonework, but an occupation site containing all the artifacts and proofs that archaeology requires, in New Jersey, that was the center of a huge legal battle between the Nanticoke Lenape of NJ and the mayor of the town that owned the land has finally been put beyond the reach of those who wished it to become football fields. The commissioner who was to rule on its status a day later got wind of a legal trick the mayor was about to pull , and ruled the entire property a historic site the same day, before the mayor could implement his plan.

This NJ site held well-documented evidence of 10, 000 years of continuous occupation. Out of thousands of historic sites that have been named in New Jersey, this will be one of only four that will have anything to do with the 12,000 years of human history that passed before Euros arrived here 400 years ago. Yet it took a high-powered Washington, D.C. law firm, several archaeologists, the first instance of several Lenape groups working together, and a commissioner who was willing to step out of schedule, to preserve this site from bulldozers and complete destruction. This is how it is here. Indian and ancient here do not mean precious, disappearing and indigenous, but simply worthless. I hope to get a photo on our web site of the turtle head soon, and some other striking images and constructions in stone that exist mostly unnoticed in our part of the world.