A Grave Desecration

So how would you like someone to come along and build a Civic Center on top of your relatives’ graves?

The Tesuque Pueblo Indians aren’t any happier about it then you would be.

Tesuque Pueblo Gov. Mark Mitchell said the site selected for the new Santa Fe Civic Center, where human remains have been revealed during construction, is on the tribe's ancient Pueblo. Mitchell said downtown Santa Fe is the ancestral home of Tesuque Pueblo, and it is time for the city of Santa Fe to deal with the Pueblo with respect and enter into a government-to-government relationship. ''The downtown part of Santa Fe was where our Pueblo - Tesuque - was located,'' Mitchell told Indian Country Today.

According to the Pueblo’s oral history, Tesuque people once inhabited what is now Santa Fe. The remains are evidence that “our oral history is true,” Mitchell said during a recent meeting of the state Cultural Properties Review Committee. “We hold those sites sacred. In our hearts, we knew those people.” Mitchell said the city has been informed that Tesuque elders will provide them with the oral history, details of which would be confirmed by archaeologists when human remains at the site are identified.

The New Mexican reported last month that the state Cultural Properties Review Committee unanimously tabled a decision to grant a burial-excavation permit for the site until its next meeting Oct. 14. Before it can decide whether to grant a permit, the state committee said the city would need to consult with Tesuque Pueblo about the project. “The city has a responsibility for tribal consultation — which is why I think they (the committee) tabled it,” said Stuart Ashman, secretary of the Department of Cultural Affairs. He is not a member of the committee. The subject of burials is a sensitive issue, he said.

The former Santa Fe High School which sits at the site was constructed before passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Besides Tesuque, other Tewa-speaking tribes in Northern New Mexico also claim to be related to those buried at the site. The, All Pueblo Council composed of members of the 19 pueblos of New Mexico, and the Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, also oppose unearthing the bones.

Archaeologists with the state Office of Archaeological Studies, who were under contract with the city and had a state permit to dig, found at the site about 100 human bones and a village dating to between A.D. 1350 and 1400. The archaeologists covered the bones with dirt because the city must obtain a separate permit to excavate a burial site, said OAS Director Timothy Maxwell.

Indian Country Today says some of the anthropologists recommended that the site not be used. Mitchell said the city did not heed the advice. He said the city ignored anthropologists' recommendations and continued with their fund-raising and plans for the new civic center. ''They ignored that and kept going,'' Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the city has not made a sincere effort to consult with Pueblos concerning the site and remains. He said the previous governor of Tesuque requested to meet with the city concerning the site, but the city did not respond. Then, Pueblo leaders learned of the city's plans when they read about it in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper.

During a similar battle a few years ago up in South Dakota Ellsworth Chytka, a Yankton Sioux tribal member who has worked to preserve burial sites along the Missouri River argued, "A tribal burial ground is no different than where they have laid popes and cardinals to rest. Nobody would think of tampering with their remains because of the spirituality they commanded. These are sacred grounds to us as Indian people. It's a place of burial and a place of prayer. It's a place where we say the spirit is strong."

AIM’s Dennis Banks has put it this way, “The disturbance of burial sites challenges the very nature of who we are as human beings and our value system of what is held sacred…Before the coming of the white man, we never worried about the bones of our ancestors. We never thought that our people would ever be disturbed."

Banks added, “The Spirit Journey may take four days, eight days, or it may take months or years; but one of the basic beliefs is that our journey will continue as long as our bones are returning to Mother Earth. Should a disturbance ever occur, our journey is interrupted. So for the many skeletal remains of our people, the journey has been interrupted. The journey will never be completed until their bones are returned completely back to the Earth. This is a very strong belief that we have.” Sources: Indian Country Today, The New Mexican (August 20), National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers, Walk for Justice