Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Native Peoples and Archaeology in the Northeastern United States

6. Ancient Burial Grounds on Monument Road: Abenaki and Archaeologist Efforts to Find a Solution in Vermont

6. Ancient Burial Grounds on Monument Road Abenaki and Archaeologist Efforts to Find a Solution in Vermont 9:7DG6= : 7ADB ?6B:H 7 E:I:GH:C 6C9 ;G:9:G>8@ L>H:B6C lthough the state of Vermont currently has no federally recognized Native American tribes, local Native Americans actively participate in archaeological site protection and repatriation in the state. This chapter presents one history regarding Native human remains found along Monument Road in Swanton-Highgate, Vermont, and the changing nature of scholarship in the state with the increasing role of Native Americans in the archaeological process. We highlight interactions between Vermont Abenakis,1 Vermont state officials, and University of Vermont (uvm) archaeologists,2 and outline how including Native Americans in all aspects of the archaeological process has led to better relations between Native people and archaeologists in the state. Finally, we discuss how bids for federal and state tribal recognition have been linked to repatriation efforts. As the Abenakis face growing struggles for sovereignty and self-determination, their role in protecting Native remains in the state has been affected, as has that of archaeologists . In the face of changing political environments, the importance of these issues has become more pronounced. The authors of this chapter include two Euroamerican archaeologists and one Native American historian and archaeologist. Deborah Blom is A Blom, Petersen, and Wiseman  an archaeologist and human osteologist who works with Aymara communities studying ancient Tiwanaku society in the Lake Titicaca Basin of Bolivia. Deborah was introduced to Vermont’s Abenakis and the present situation in 1998 when she moved to Vermont to join the Department of Anthropology at uvm. She has since worked as a human osteologist with the Abenakis on various occasions. The late Jim Petersen, an archaeologist and former chair of the Department of Anthropology at uvm, was a student in Vermont in 1973 when some of the events described here took place. Jim first became involved in the analysis of artifacts from the Boucher site when he was a student and has been involved with this work ever since. Fred Wiseman is an Abenaki academic, educator, and tribal historian. He is currently chair of the Humanities Department at Johnson State College in Johnson, Vermont, and directs the Abenaki Tribal Museum and Cultural Center in Swanton, Vermont. The account presented here is a product of dialogue between these three individuals and others involved. Contextualizing the Abenakis’ Situation in the State After 200 or more years of self-protective hiding—from hostilities ranging from European colonialism to a eugenics movement aimed at poor, “undesirable” Vermonters in the 1920s and 1930s (Gallagher 1999:122– 126)—Vermont’s Abenakis publicly reasserted their Native identity and rights in 1972. After research by the state into the Abenakis’ declaration (Baker 1976), state recognition was granted by Governor Thomas Salmon on Thanksgiving Day 1976. However, newly elected governor Richard Snelling rescinded recognition only a few months later. The Sovereign Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi–St. Francis/Sokoki Band initially applied for federal tribal recognition with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (bia) in 1982. They withdrew their petition in the early 1990s when names on the accompanying tribal roll were being released to the State of Vermont for a pending court case involving aboriginal fishing rights (Carol Neptôn, personal communication 2004). In January 1996 the Abenakis resubmitted their bid for federal recognition (Carol Neptôn, personal communication 2004), but it has yet to be reviewed by the bia. Bills for state recognition have been proposed in the Vermont State Legislature several times since state recognition was rescinded, but all have Ancient Burial Grounds on Monument Road  remained “in committee,” so no vote has taken place. Governor Howard Dean’s administration (1991–2002) vocally opposed all legislation supporting Abenaki state recognition and, with the Vermont attorney general ’s office, used recognition bids as a way of inciting Vermonters’ fears of gaming and land claims (e.g., Switchboard, Vermont Public Radio, April 9, 2002; see also Hemingway 2003). Accordingly, the wording of bills has changed over time so that state assistance in federal recognition is no longer mentioned, and the Abenakis are referred to as a “people” rather than a “tribe.” Most important, in December 2002 the state attorney general’s office released a lengthy report challenging the legitimacy of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi–St. Francis/Sokoki Band as a group suitable for federal tribal...