Archaeologica.org

In case it gets "moderated" away:

"Hi Brad –

Did you really expect the settlers or the early archaeologists to repeat any Native claims that the mounds were built by their ancestors?

You left Cusick’s History out of your list of testimonies on mounds.

You have not read Babara Mann’s work, which repeats early contact eye-witness accounts of the construction of mounds by Cherokee.

You are unfamiliar with the fragments of Vine Deloria’s last work, which he was not able to complete before his passing.

You are not familiar with the contact era literature, from Fleet to the early Pennsylvania traders.

There are many Shawnee accounts of the mounds.

As an archaeologist, you are unfamiliar with the Late Fort Ancient/Shawnee sites.

Yes, I have this all referenced, and I am not making up any of it."

For those of you unfamiliar with the "players" here in Ohio:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pEh9n5_D7k

From Brad -

Mr. Grondine,

I believe if you would read the full article to which this blog post refers most of your concerns will be answered.

Brad


Hi Brad –

Thanks for your speedy response. (I did not use the formal “Lepper” or “L.” in that note.)

I read your paper in full before I posted my comment on it here.

I know you put a lot of work into the piece, but the essential source omissions I noted still hold, and the readers may check them for their selves, which I urge them to do. That is excluding the fragments of Vine Deloria’s last work, which are known only to the very few people who were directly involved with it.

If it makes you feel any better, from what I’ve seen, these kind of errors are systemic in American archaeology.

The latest from Brad:

"Mr. Grondine,

"I cannot believe you read my full article and still think your comments are appropriate. I included references to Cusick, many of the sources I cited indeed state that the earthworks were built by the ancestors of American Indians, I included references to Shawnee and Cherokee statements about the mounds, and I am quite familiar with contact-era literature but only cited it when it contained responses to inquiries about earthworks. I even cited Deloria — though not fragments from an unfinished work I’ve never seen.

Your criticisms and condescension are unwarranted."

It appears that Brad has mistaken my friendly conversational tone for condescension.

It also appears that he has reading comprehension problems.

The differences between Brad's summary of what Cusick said and what Cusick said are so great as to call his summaries of other peoples' testimony into question. But I do thank Brad for the citations to them.

As any judge in any NAGPRA case will also be able to read, I can not understand why Lepper thinks this article will pass muster as evidence.

Fool that I am, I believe a court case between OHS and the Shawnee will simply waste resources on both the federal and state level that could actually be used for useful work benefiting everyone in Ohio.

Why Brad thinks that there are no Cherokee and Shawnee descendants active in the bar, the courts, and on a political level is far beyond me.

At least, if this is the best that OHS can come up with, the trial will be a short one, and less money will be wasted.