Post by Okwes on Dec 14, 2005 15:42:22 GMT -5
Skull for sale discovered to be part of Indian history
By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer
December 11, 2005
ROANOKE, Va. -- Steven Mendola thought he would help out the medical
profession when he put a human skull up for sale on eBay as a teaching
tool. Instead, he's done a service to Virginia's Monacan Indians by
returning one of their own.
Sorting through a closet after he took over the Staten Island, N.Y.,
office of a chiropractor who had died, Mendola found the old skull. He
had no idea it was an artifact that would be treasured several hundred
miles away.
The chief of Virginia's Monacan Indians, Kenneth Branham of Amherst,
believes the skull could have been among remains of at least 180
American Indians exhumed in western Virginia in 1901.
Mendola decided to sell the skull because he had a newer one that he
could use for explanations to patients.
"Doctors are always looking for authentic skulls and bones to study
from," he said. "I really didn't need it."
The chiropractor checked with New York authorities to make sure he
wouldn't be selling someone's long-lost relative. The skull had a
sticker on it labeled "Suponi," which he assumed was an Italian name. No
one with that name was missing, he was told.
The sticker also said "Roanoke, Va.," which he thought might be where
the skull was purchased. A second sticker said "1671-1701," which he
figured meant it was more than 300 years old.
The online auction house eBay was the logical place to sell the skull,
and Mendola put it on last February with an asking price of $199.
He got offers of $150 and $152.50, but a query from a news reporter in
Roanoke put a stop to the bidding. Mendola hadn't put the sticker name
on the eBay listing, but when he gave it to Dan Reany, then with
WSLS-TV, the reporter discovered it was more likely "Saponi."
That's a Siouan tribe related to the Monacans in Virginia. The sale was
off--it's a federal crime to sell American Indian remains.
That was fine with Mendola. As soon as he spoke to the Monacan chief,
Mendola said he realized that the skull could hold much more meaning
than as a teaching tool.
Mendola overnighted the now-precious cargo to Virginia, and it was
examined by Joanna Wilson, an archaeologist with the state Department of
Historic Resources in September.
"It was in very, very good condition," she said.
Wilson was able to determine that it was American Indian by the shape of
some of the bones. It belonged to an older man, probably at least 50,
who had lost all his teeth, she said.
There was no evidence of disease, she said, but bony growths in his ear
canal meant he could have been hard of hearing.
Wilson said she could not determine the age of the skull or its tribe.
Branham said he's "99 percent sure" the skull is of a Saponi that was
found in the Roanoke area.
"That is our region," Branham said, so the Monacans are claiming the
skull and plan a reburial service, probably in the spring, on their land
on Bear Mountain in Amherst County.
The skull has been smudged to purify it and wrapped in a red cloth with
items that his ancestors traditionally buried with bodies. Corn or
squash were included to represent food, Branham said, as well as tobacco
as a sacred plant and personal items such as wood beads or pottery.
While there's no way to say for certain, the chief believes the skull
could have been among the remains from the early 1700s that were dug up
in Rockbridge County in 1901. Antiquarian E.P. Valentine exhumed the
remains and put them on display in his family's museum in Richmond,
according to an article in Archaeology magazine.
The remains of more than 100 of the Indians were returned to the
Monacans in 1999, after being held by the state for a decade before
federal officials approved their release to the tribe.
Branham said he was upset when he heard the skull was for sale online,
and said he would have gotten the federal government involved if
necessary to get it returned to Virginia.
"We had fought so hard to get remains back before," he said.
However, Mendola was eager to return the skull once he learned where it
belonged.
"It has a home," he said. "It has to go back."
By SUE LINDSEY
Associated Press Writer
December 11, 2005
ROANOKE, Va. -- Steven Mendola thought he would help out the medical
profession when he put a human skull up for sale on eBay as a teaching
tool. Instead, he's done a service to Virginia's Monacan Indians by
returning one of their own.
Sorting through a closet after he took over the Staten Island, N.Y.,
office of a chiropractor who had died, Mendola found the old skull. He
had no idea it was an artifact that would be treasured several hundred
miles away.
The chief of Virginia's Monacan Indians, Kenneth Branham of Amherst,
believes the skull could have been among remains of at least 180
American Indians exhumed in western Virginia in 1901.
Mendola decided to sell the skull because he had a newer one that he
could use for explanations to patients.
"Doctors are always looking for authentic skulls and bones to study
from," he said. "I really didn't need it."
The chiropractor checked with New York authorities to make sure he
wouldn't be selling someone's long-lost relative. The skull had a
sticker on it labeled "Suponi," which he assumed was an Italian name. No
one with that name was missing, he was told.
The sticker also said "Roanoke, Va.," which he thought might be where
the skull was purchased. A second sticker said "1671-1701," which he
figured meant it was more than 300 years old.
The online auction house eBay was the logical place to sell the skull,
and Mendola put it on last February with an asking price of $199.
He got offers of $150 and $152.50, but a query from a news reporter in
Roanoke put a stop to the bidding. Mendola hadn't put the sticker name
on the eBay listing, but when he gave it to Dan Reany, then with
WSLS-TV, the reporter discovered it was more likely "Saponi."
That's a Siouan tribe related to the Monacans in Virginia. The sale was
off--it's a federal crime to sell American Indian remains.
That was fine with Mendola. As soon as he spoke to the Monacan chief,
Mendola said he realized that the skull could hold much more meaning
than as a teaching tool.
Mendola overnighted the now-precious cargo to Virginia, and it was
examined by Joanna Wilson, an archaeologist with the state Department of
Historic Resources in September.
"It was in very, very good condition," she said.
Wilson was able to determine that it was American Indian by the shape of
some of the bones. It belonged to an older man, probably at least 50,
who had lost all his teeth, she said.
There was no evidence of disease, she said, but bony growths in his ear
canal meant he could have been hard of hearing.
Wilson said she could not determine the age of the skull or its tribe.
Branham said he's "99 percent sure" the skull is of a Saponi that was
found in the Roanoke area.
"That is our region," Branham said, so the Monacans are claiming the
skull and plan a reburial service, probably in the spring, on their land
on Bear Mountain in Amherst County.
The skull has been smudged to purify it and wrapped in a red cloth with
items that his ancestors traditionally buried with bodies. Corn or
squash were included to represent food, Branham said, as well as tobacco
as a sacred plant and personal items such as wood beads or pottery.
While there's no way to say for certain, the chief believes the skull
could have been among the remains from the early 1700s that were dug up
in Rockbridge County in 1901. Antiquarian E.P. Valentine exhumed the
remains and put them on display in his family's museum in Richmond,
according to an article in Archaeology magazine.
The remains of more than 100 of the Indians were returned to the
Monacans in 1999, after being held by the state for a decade before
federal officials approved their release to the tribe.
Branham said he was upset when he heard the skull was for sale online,
and said he would have gotten the federal government involved if
necessary to get it returned to Virginia.
"We had fought so hard to get remains back before," he said.
However, Mendola was eager to return the skull once he learned where it
belonged.
"It has a home," he said. "It has to go back."