Today, I am a little upset and somewhat depressed. I’m involved in a controversy. Not that that is news for me but it is the subject. It involves a remains, whole or parts, of 664 Native Americans who were unearthed by some archeologists working for the State of West Virginia in 1963. It is an involved and complex situation that has been in controversy in these parts for at least the past 25 years.
Since the white man came to this area centuries ago no Native American tribes have been known to live in what is now West Virginia. Several groups in Kentucky, Ohio, etc. used this area for hunting and passing through. However, farmers plowing fields in the area of Buffalo, W. Va. (a few miles up the Kanawha River from the Ohio River) unearthed many human bones in the 1800s and early 1900s causing some excitement, curiosity, ghoulishness, etc. The state, through its State Archeologist, intervened and established a dig. From that dig came the remains of some 664 remains. There could be others on that site or nearby but so far no others have been found and no formal digs have been held since then. The remains were removed to West Virginia University, Morgantown where many non-invasive studies were held. It was rather well established that these remains were from Native Americans of the 14th and 15th centuries.
After these studies the remains were kept there for a few years before being sent to Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh. More studies were made and the remains were put in storage there for a few years before being sent on to Toledo, Oh. University. More tests and more storage occurred until those involved no longer had use for them and they were placed on a loading dock for trash disposal. Persons from Ohio State heard about this and removed them to Columbus. There, more tests were done and then the remains went into storage once again.
No Native American Tribe wanted to take responsibility for them, no other university or museum wanted them, including West Virginia (the State and the University). They languished on storage shelves at Ohio State for years. This was much to the chagrin of many Native Americans in the area who wanted them returned to this State and reburied, near the original graves. That was, and is, complicated because the traditional Native American thought is to bury remains in an unknown and unmarked place. It should be done by the tribe proving to have the greatest connection to the remains.
With all of the local publicity that this issue has garnered, and with no local tribe to take responsibility, that became difficult to say the least. Some of the local residents, Native Americans and Whites, persisted and a couple of years ago Putnam County authorities (site of the original burial grounds) gave permission for a few people to find an appropriate unmarked site and to secure the remains for reburial. The first part was accomplished some nine months to a year ago.
Ohio State agreed to release the remains and everything seemed to be set in order until the State of West Virginia intervened. The State took the remains and have them in storage at The Grave Creek Mound museum (not on display) in Moundsville (near Wheeling) where they remain today. Many of the state leaders, led by a group of archeologists, do not want the remains reburied. Instead they want them kept in storage in case other uses might be found for them in the future.
I, and many others, are finding this difficult to handle and are advocating for the turnover of these remains to Putnam County and reburied where they may again rest in peace. West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin currently has a petition signed by several hundred Putnam residents asking for the return. So far there has been no response and his underlings on his staff and the Department of Cultural and History would like to see this whole issue quietly disappear. It isn’t likely to happen in the near future.
In the meantime I am preparing columns for local distribution that continue to advocate for the reburial. Those on that side of the issue remain hopeful even if the power base is elsewhere.
Such are the people, places and things that have touched my life in my home?
Don Springer is a writer for the Charleston, West Virginia newspapers, but he and his wife often visit in Houston. He can be reached at touchlife@worldnet.att.net
