A significant difference of opinion emerged during the question and answer period following a presentation sponsored recently by the Lake Placid Historical Society. It was about the indigenous people who lived in the area and around Lake Okeechobee roughly between 500 BC and 1500 AD. The people are known collectively as the Belle Glades Culture.
Catherine Smith, a graduate student resident at the Lawrence C. Mill Museum of the Glades, delivered the presentation. She said one of the challenges in learning about the culture and its history is that no written record was left behind. Historians and social scientists are piecing together the story by using excavated artifacts from burial and habitation mounds. Archeology, Smith said, is the only way to learn about these early societies.
Bobbie C. Billie, the spiritual leader of the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal peoples, on the other hand, demanded archeologists stop work. "We are responsible for our own culture," he said.
There are two major issues regarding archeological excavations: Current archeological methodology is such that an historical site has to be taken apart in order to find the story-telling details. Even more sensitive is that many sites are sacred places themselves, or places where human bodies are consecrated. Billie spoke for those who do not want their ancestors disturbed, their artifacts stolen, or their history written by outsiders, he said.
We have to admit archeology has a checkered past.
Most people know about the self-taught amateur archeologists from Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Men like Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamun's tomb, hunted treasure in the name of science, and kept what they found.
Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, is another famous example. He smuggled significant Greek sculpture to England, including friezes removed from the Parthenon in Athens. A few years later he sold the collection to the British Museum. To this day, the Elgin Marbles remain highly controversial. Greece still wants them back.
At the same time, the study of early human history is important. Besides being a part of Highlands County's past, the Belle Glades Culture has a lot to teach modern day man about the creative use of resources and living in balance with the natural habitat.
There have been improvements in the field, and in how scientists work closer with local inhabitants.
Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990, for example, giving native Americans the authority to make decisions about historical sites that involve them, and the United Nations has recognized the need for indigenous peoples to have a right to protect their heritage.
This may seem like a rarefied discussion, but it affects Highlands County. A site in Lake Placid, known as the Blueberry Patch, is being excavated and explored. It is thought it might have been a sizable Belle Gades Culture settlement at one time. This means the push and pull between scientific exploration or leaving the dead in peace may affect us here.
Both sides have powerful arguments. We feel, however, we can't walk away from learning. The best way to increase respect for a people is teach others about its contributions and successes.
We hope the excavation of the Blueberry Patch continues. We also hope the feelings and beliefs of descendants of the Belle Glade Culture are taken seriously and made a part of the process.
Friday, February 08, 2013 - www.newssun.com/edt-021013