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Native bones at rest again in Branford

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Tuesday, 27 September 2011

Native bones at rest again in Branford September 26, 2011 By Mark Zaretsky, Special to the Times BRANFORD — They could have been buried 500 years ago — or 2,000 — but it was long before anyone now living walked these shores. At this point, nobody really knows who they were or how long they laid there buried. All we know is that the long-forgotten human remains of what appear to be two people — believed to be native Americans, possibly pre-Columbian inhabitants of what today’s residents call Linden Shores in the Indian Neck section — were partially bared by heavy erosion that undermined Linden Avenue during Hurricane turned Tropical Storm Irene. Someone noticed them on Aug. 29. They told authorities. The Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner was called — and state archeologists. The bones were removed to be examined, then returned. And all the while, town officials and others involved kept it quiet so no mad press of curiosity-seekers would threaten the remains in any way. On Thursday, a contingent of native Americans, including the chairman of the Native American Heritage Advisory Council and a medicine man affiliated with the Algonquian Confederacy of the Quinnipiac Tribal Council, laid them to rest again in a solemn intertribal ceremony. Within minutes, the re-buried remains were covered with rocks — soon to be followed by fabric and giant, boulder-sized stones — as part of the work under way to restore, rebuild and reinforce Linden Avenue and the slope beneath it. The press was invited, but was kept at a distance and not allowed to film it. Participants came and spoke after it was over. “We’re happy to see that the remains of our ancestors have been respectfully placed back in the ground so that the Creator can watch over them for all eternity,” said Gordon “Fox Running” Brainerd, Bear Clan Medicine Chief for the Quinnipiac Tribal Council and a Branford resident. Based on where they were found, the remains likely were members of the Totoket Band of the Quinnipiac Confederacy, he said. The remains were several feet down in a pile of shells, which likely helped preserve them. “I wasn’t really shocked” to learn of the discovery “because natives have lived here in Connecticut for thousands of years and they had a lot of encampments along the shoreline,” Fox Running said. “Fortunately, the right people stepped in and we did what was respectful for them ... in that we put them back in the ground where they belong.” Participants were “smudged,” or blessed and purified by burning sage and tobacco in an abalone shell, said Fox Running and Ed Sarabia of Glastonbury, chairman of the Native American Heritage Advisory Council. “It’s a blessing and it pulls us together,” said Sarabia, a member of the Tlingit tribe, originally from southeast Alaska. The tobacco smoke’s function is to help carry participants’ prayers up to the creator, said Sarabia. Sarabia said one reason authorities know the remains are native is that the area already was “a known native site.” Other remains had previously been found in the area, and “with this burial, there were some animals, as well as roughly two skeletel remains,” he said. The remains were returned on Wednesday, Sarabia said. Asked if Native Americans now will treat the spot as a sacred site, Sarabia replied, “No. What we will do is, when we come by ... we’ll take a small pebble and put it on the area that we know it’s buried...” There are two reasons for that, he said. One is that “rocks and boulders are the real elders of this world. They were here before us humans were here. They’ll be here after we’re gone,” he said. The other reason is “to let them know...that we’ve been here. It’s out of respect and it’s also saying that ‘we know where you are...’” Chief of Police Kevin Halloran said, “Our major concern during these preceding weeks was to maintain the honor and respect of those native Americans who may have been laid to rest in this area and work closely with their ancestors to maintain the dignity they deserve.” Sarabia and police Capt. Geoffrey Morgan both said that one reason why members of the press weren’t allowed to film the ceremony was so it wouldn’t be too clear exactly where the site is. “We don’t want to have other people coming here and kind of digging or trying to find other archaeological finds,” said Morgan. First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos said that when bones were found, ”we didn’t know what they were, whether they were animal or human — but we treated them as ... human” and protected the site. At this point, there is “no further excavation to be done,” he said. Rip rap, fabric and “very large stones” will be placed over the burial site. “Nobody’s going to get back to that burial,” DaRos said. http://www.shorelinetimes.com/articles/2011/09/26/news/doc4e8072118ce62750452836.txt?viewmode=3

 

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