NATIVE
SACRED SITES
Dr. Zoltan Grossman
Faculty member in Geography & Native American Studies,
The Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington
http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz
Sacred Places
(according to Mircea Eliade)
Locations of sacred manifestation of divine
Create spiritual order around sacred pivot;
“axes of the world” to orient humans
Serve as microcosm of universe
Symbolize creation of the world
(“earth navel”)
Sacred places:
Passage open for communication between levels
Sky
(divine; heaven)
Mountains, sun calendar, etc.
Earth
(Life; humans)
Caves, springs, kivas, etc.
Underworld
(Dead; water)
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Native Sacred Places Interpreted
Western views :
Broad places of aesthetic beauty or positive emotion;
Perhaps “created” in recent times to claim land
Native views :
Specific places of sacred power
from ancient spiritual events
(Could be feeling good or feeling fear;
Could be beautiful or mundane;
Importance well documented since Encounter )
Purposes of Sacred Places
Needed for “stability of the world,” not just for Indians
Recording of stories
Astronomical
observatories
Seasonal ceremonies
Burial grounds
Life stage passages
Medicine gathering
Purification
Healing
Quarries of
sacred stone
Vision quests
Many other purposes
Effigy Mounds
Effigy Mounds
Ceremonial sites symbolizing animals/clans.
Often in high places overlooking water,
or near caves/springs
Southern
Wisconsin
Not just conical
burial mounds;
Effigy mound
Builders about
650 to 1200 AD
Some had burials;
All were ceremonial
centers often
near villages
Mapping the Mounds
Pioneer
surveys
Magentic gradiometry
Mendota Hospital grounds, Madison
Bird
(Sky)
Panther
Bear
(Earth)
Bird
(624’ wingspan)
Bear
Water spirit
(Panther)
(Underworld)
Geographical
distribution may
follow clan
territories
Continuity to
modern tribes
Ho-Chunk view selves
as guardians of mounds
Descended from earlier
Ancient cultures
Continuity
of cultures
Red Horn legend
at Gottschall site
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Mound destruction
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80% of WI mounds leveled
by farming or development;
Some surviving mounds looted
for pots, artifacts, bones, etc.
Burial mounds on Prairie Island Res., Minn.
had been buried to deter looters
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Moningwanekaning
(Madeline Island, Apostle Islands, Wisconsin)
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Red Sky’s birchbark scroll of Ojibwe Great Migration
Megis shell
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HE SAPA (BLACK HILLS)
Black Hills
from Space
Zoom
Wind Cave
origin of
Lakota
Rains replenish
aquifers for
semi-arid region
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Black Hills
guaranteed to
Lakota in 1851
& 1868 Treaties
Custer invaded
Black Hills
for gold, 1874
“Race Track” in
the Red Valley
Ki Iyanka Ocanku
(“Heart-Shaped Path”)
Can Gleska Wakan
(“Sacred Hoop”)
Ancient race between
two-leggeds & fourleggeds spilled “blood”
Iron-rich soil;
uranium deposits
Black Hills
Sacred Sites
Bear Lodge Butte,
or Devil’s Tower
Pe Sla, or Old Baldy
Bear Butte
Winter
camps
Harney Peak
Lakota
Constellations
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Spring Equinox
Pipe ceremony
Winter
camps
Dried Willow
constellation
Winter Camps
outside Black Hills
Welcoming Back the
Thunders ceremony
Winter
camps
Seven Little Girls
(Pleiades) constellation
Hinhankaga Paha
(Harney Peak = 7 peaks);
Black Elk vision site
Welcoming Back Life
in Peace ceremony
Winter
camps
Tayamni (animal)
constellation = Orion’s Belt
Pe Sla, Center of the Hills
(Old Baldy, or Slate Prairie)
Summer Solstice
Sun Dance
Winter
camps
Bear’s Lodge
constellation
Matotipi Paha
(Bear Lodge Butte,
or “Devil’s Tower”)
Sacred Hoop Run
Lakota reservation youth run
500 miles around Black Hills
along path of Great Race
Mato Paha (Bear Butte)
Shared sacred space of
Lakota & Cheyenne
Where Lakota first
met Great Spirit
Ceremonial & vision quest
sites within state park;
Tourists stay on trail
Bear Butte volcano
Meeting place of
Tashunka Witko
(Crazy Horse)
20th century
peace prayers near
nuclear missile silos
21st century
shooting range
proposal conflict
Honor or Desecration?
Congressional bill for “Sioux National Park”
on federal lands, failed 1980s
Lakotas reject $105
million compensation
for theft; ask for land
return and damages,
1980s
Lakota traditionalists
& AIM had Yellow
Thunder Camp, 1981
Pine Ridge Res.
Environmental Threats to Black Hills
Gold mining since 1870s
Uranium mining, 1950s-60s
Uranium & coal mining
plans defeated, 1981
Bombing range plan
defeated, 1987
Costner resort
controversy, 2000s
Double Standards
Western religious ceremonies
mainly in buildings, but…..
Would Mount Sinai ever be mined?
To stop a mine,
would Christians &
Jews be required to
locate and prove that
“Burning Bush” thing?
Native Religious Freedom
Civilization Regulations outlawed
Native religions from 1880s to 1930s;
still practiced in secret
American Indian Religious Freedom Act
legalized religious practices only in 1978
Sacred sites still not legally protected;
about 3/4ths not accessible to tribes
Taos Blue Lake, New Mexico
• Sacred to Taos Pueblo
• Taken by US Forest Service
from tribe, 1906
• Nixon Administration
returned to Taos Pueblo, 1970
• Mount Adams returned to
Yakama in WA, 1972
Clinton’s Executive
Order, 1996
• Accommodation for access
and ceremonial use
• Additional security/confidentiality
• Physical integrity
• Yet not protected from development
Sites on U.S. Geological Survey maps
Quechan sacred land in California
Indian Pass
“dream trails”
sacred to Quechan
Open-pit cyanide
gold mine proposal
stopped by Clinton,
resumed by Bush
Focus of California
state legislation
California bills
2004 law requires local gov’ts to notify & consult with
tribes, who can now can purchase conservation easements.
- Arnold signed bill; not as strong as 2002 bill.
2002 bill gave tribes veto over development on specific
sacred sites within 20 miles of their lands, and to
consult with developers to adjust plans.
- Legislature passed; Gov. Davis vetoed,
but committed to stopping Quechan mine
Native American Sacred Lands
Protection Act, 2003
• Federal bill to require resource developers to
consult with tribes
• Accepts oral history as “Native science” to
define geographic structure or place as sacred
• Require public hearings; could block projects
• Snowball’s chance in 2003
Catch-22s of Government
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Protection
Have to divulge locations
Have to divulge
or prove sacred
information
Site’s value may
be quantified
in $$$
May have to
relinquish
claim to
protect site
Government may
give permission
for access/prayer
Solutions???
Mount Graham telescope, Arizona
• Univ. of Arizona/Vatican
mountaintop project
• Access to mountaintop
restricted
• Peak is sacred to Apache;;
Charge violation of
religious freedom; ask
universities not to participate
Mendota Dakota oaks, near
Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis
• Highway 55 project to speed
traffic to Mall of America
• Would cut four sacred oaks
of Mendota Dakota
• “Camp Coldwater”
protest camp, 1998-99
Weatherman Draw, Montana
• Petroglyphs sacred
to many Montana tribes
• Anschutz company wanted oil
exploration; BLM agreed
• Protests caused Anschutz to
donate leases to land trust, 2002
Zuni Salt Lake, New Mexico
• Sacred to Zuni Pueblo, and
pilgrimage site for others,
as home of “Salt Woman”
• Public utility wanted a huge
coal mine 10 miles away
• Fears that coal operations
would dry up springs
• Project defeated, 2003
Petroglyph National Monument, New Mexico
• 17,000 rock drawings
just west of Albuquerque;
amidst suburban sprawl
• 1998 Proposal for freeway
through monument land;
fears of noise, pollution, access
• Lawsuits, elections,
regulatory battles continue
Desecration of
Petroglyphs
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Three Rivers
Petroglyphs
(Jornada Mogollon culture, New Mexico, 1300s)
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