WEBVTT

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[upbeat drum and flute music]

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♪ ♪

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male narrator:
For over half a century,

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the question of who built
the old stone ruins of the East

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has been
the most controversial mystery

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in American anthropology.

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Today these priceless
archaeological resources

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represent a radical new vision
of the past.

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They have become signposts,

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pointing toward the discovery
of an unknown chapter

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in the history
of ancient Native America.

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When 18th- and 19th-century
antiquarian scholars

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discovered stone ruins
in the eastern landscape,

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they dreamt about lost races,

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cultures that were well beyond
the technical capabilities

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of the historical Indians
they were familiar with.

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They also imagined migration
or cultural diffusion

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from the Old World.

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Egyptians, Phoenicians,
the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel,

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Celtic Druids, Vikings,
and Irish monks

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all filled a vacuum created
by our inadequate knowledge

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of the cultural landscape.

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For most professional
researchers,

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the only acceptable explanation
for the stone ruins

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is that they were built
by later European colonists,

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the only societies
who supposedly

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had both the ability
and the interest.

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[people chanting and singing]

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But how much
do we really understand

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about the ancient
ancestral cultures

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of eastern North America?

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Unfortunately,
our textbooks have left us

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with a meager image
of eastern Native life.

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And when you carry
that anthropological model

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further back in time,

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the Western scientific vision
of Ice Age America

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evolves down
to a generalized assumption

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that 10,000 years ago,

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these people were among
the most primitive

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hunting and gathering societies
on Earth.

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But new discoveries
about Ice Age cultures

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all around the circumpolar world

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are changing
this long-held stereotype.

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And as the scientific
interpretation evolves,

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it can become more similar
to the Native tradition

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as it has been handed down
for generations.

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For example, the oral history
of the Narragansett tribe

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tells of a great flood
in ancient times

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where the people had to flee
from their villages

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along the Atlantic coast.

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This scientific picture of
elevated glacial water systems

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in the Northeast

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could easily be an image
of the Native flood tradition.

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The starting point for our story

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is to remember that
for eastern indigenous culture,

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the memory of specific places
in the landscape

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can extend back to the Ice Age.

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Long ago, according
to Native American tradition,

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there was a great lake
in the middle of New England.

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In that lake
there lived a beaver,

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a giant beaver who terrorized
the villages along the shore.

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The monster ate all the fish
in the lake

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and then began taking
the people.

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The Indians called out
to a great force

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they called Hobomock who came
and battled the giant mammal.

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With a final blow to the neck,
Hobomock killed the beaver,

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and the body sank
to the bottom of the lake.

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The Pocumtuck people
who lived in this area

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at the time of European contact,

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left an oral history account

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that after the high waters
drained away,

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the petrified body of the giant

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could still be seen
where it sank

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in the middle of the lake.

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The story was first recorded
by missionaries around 1820,

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and it was thought of
as a fanciful Indian myth.

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But scientists now understand
that there once was a huge lake

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that filled
the Connecticut Valley,

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and the region was populated
with giant Pleistocene mammals.

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But it was more than
12,000 years ago,

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when the last Ice Age
was melting away.

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This story will ask us
to look at the land in new ways,

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to imagine some
of the possibilities

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that earlier
traditional cultures

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may have had
for envisioning their world.

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The beaver rests with his head
to the south.

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The topo map calls the entire
formation the Pocumtuck Range,

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with its highest point known
as Pocumtuck Rock.

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The visualization of the beaver
mapped out on the ground

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is an abstraction,
like a constellation in the sky.

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The geological anatomy
of the beaver -

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the head, the body,
and the tail -

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follow the water drainages
and lead

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to one of the most significant
environmental features

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in all of central New England:
the Great Falls.

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When the first
European settlers arrived,

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the falls were so bountiful,
they reported

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catching as many
as 5,000 fish a day.

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This major economic resource
was taken by the Puritans

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after a massacre
of Native people at the falls

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during King Philip\'s War
in 1676.

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Since then, the old ways

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of seeing the land
have been fading,

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and the oral history
of the Turners Falls community

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has held a persistent story
of a curse on the town

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that has damaged
its vibrance and prosperity.

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Recently, a ceremony
of reconciliation

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with the Native community
was requested by the town,

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and a new level of dialogue

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has opened
with the local tribes.

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- [singing in native language]

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♪ ♪

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[crow squawking]

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[uplifting drum and flute music]

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♪ ♪

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- The rivers here essentially

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establish a north-south,
east-west crossing here,

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a lot of very powerful,
symbolic, and spirit medicine

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as we understand our traditions
in this area.

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This was the area
that was the responsibility

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of the Pocumtuck people.

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The Pocumtuck were cousins
to the Narragansett,

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were cousins to many
of the tribes in this area.

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The presumption that tribes
are isolated entities

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is a very colonial,
Eurocentric perception

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of the interactivity
of tribal communities.

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The establishment
of alliances was done

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through intertribal marriages,

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the concept being that if
people you needed to deal with

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were your relatives,

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you might deal with them
more amicably.

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This ceremonial area,
as we\'re told,

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was a great meeting place
for many tribes.

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So you don\'t have
an isolated tribal concept.

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You have an interdependent
tribal concept.

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And the leadership
in tribal communities

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would come to places
of great ceremony

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as a part of the spiritual
unification and reunification,

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as a part of the maintenance
of harmony and balance

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not only between tribes

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but with the Earth
and the Creator.

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Narrator: King Philip\'s War
still ranks

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as one of the bloodiest
and most costly

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in the history of America

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in terms of the percentages
of population

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that were lost on both sides.

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The war was named after
the Wampanoag leader Metacom,

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known to the English
as King Philip.

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When King Philip\'s War
first began,

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the Narragansett peoples
didn\'t join in the war effort

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of their neighbors.

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- Well, in 1675, you have
the Great Swamp Massacre

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down in Rhode Island,
what is now Rhode Island,

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down in Narragansett country,

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where the Narragansett
chief sachem had opened,

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for tribes that were beginning
to deal with the issue of war,

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had opened a refugee center
at the Great Swamp,

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what is now known
as the Great Swamp Fort.

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And that refugee center
had hundreds,

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possibly thousands of people
who had taken refuge there

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at the behest
of the Narragansett sachem,

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Canonchet.

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And the colonial powers
saw that as a great threat,

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and so they ordered Canonchet
to release from his protection

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those Wampanoag who were there.

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And it is quoted
that Canonchet said,

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\"Not one Wampanoag
nor the paring

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of a Wampanoag\'s nail
will I release to you.\"

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And that was seen
by the colonial powers

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as a declaration of war.

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And shortly thereafter,

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a militia of 1,000 or more men
was pulled together

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from the Connecticut Colony,

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the Massachusetts Bay Colony,
and the Plymouth Colony

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for a raid on the Narragansett.

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That 1,000-man militia

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attacked the fort
and killed many people.

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And that brought
the Narragansett into the war.

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Canonchet began
hitting the villages,

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the colonial villages
to the north and west.

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He converged with other chiefs
in this area

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and in the area north of here,

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known as - contemporarily
as Northfield,

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known then as Squaheag.

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And there was a place there,

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a place of council
where they all met

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to determine the course
of the war from that point.

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Narrator:
The earliest written history

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of Northfield, Massachusetts,

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describes this place
on an ancient beach terrace

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overlooking
the Connecticut River

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as the site
of a large ceremonial ground

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used for human cremation.

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Historian George Nelson
remembers that he and his wife

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would come here when they were
courting in the 1930s,

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and they could still find bits
of cremated bone in the sand.

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- Well, my wife and I,
we used to drive.

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There was a road
the whole length of it here,

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and it was just like driving
through the park.

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I mean, it was big pine trees
and sand and pine needles.

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I mean, it was beautiful.

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And once in a while,
you could find

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these little itty-bitty pieces
of white bone.

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- When you say you say
you could see the bone,

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you could see the specks
all over?

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Or just occasionally?

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- Occasionally,
I would say, yes.

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But this was a big
Indian village here.

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- During that gathering,
it was determined

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that there needed to be
a place for refugees.

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And Canonchet determined,
we are told,

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that an island that was here
in the river

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would be an ideal place
for those refugees.

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And that refugee center
was set up.

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What happened here, though,
was that a militia

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organized by a Captain Turner

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was advised of the gathering
of the refugees.

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They came in,

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and they did
a surprise morning attack.

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And they massacred hundreds.

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And what you have
in this area then

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is an adding to
the spirit significance

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and spirit energy of this place

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and the areas around
by the spilling of the blood

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of women, children, elders,
and defenders

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at this great bend in the river,

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this great confluence of rivers,

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this great place of the falls,

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this place of high spirit

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that had been a place
of high spirit

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for thousands of years,

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had been a place for
the gathering of Native people

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for thousands of years

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because of
its spirit significance.

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The town of Turners Falls
came to me

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as a local representative
of the Narragansett Indian Tribe

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with the notion
that it needed healing.

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We came back to this place,
and two things occurred.

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One, the medicine man did

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a burying of the hatchet
ceremony

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and a smoking of the pipe

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with the three select
board members

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from the town of Montague.

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And from our side,
what we sought,

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and what is in the document,

00:16:42.167 --> 00:16:46.900
was that they would support
historic preservation efforts

00:16:46.933 --> 00:16:50.900
by the tribe in this region.

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Of course, who knew
that a very short time,

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probably a year,
year and a half later,

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we would be embroiled
in this battle

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over the expansion
of the runways of the airport

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and a $5 million grant
from the FAA to the town

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through its airport commission
to expand that runway.

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The ceremony
was a very powerful event.

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It is the first of its type

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with that kind
of partnership in writing,

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signatures,
and in ceremonial deed.

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It sets a great precedent
for how the wounds of the past

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between the colonial community

00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:45.633
and the Native community
can presumably be healed.

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But it\'s got to be
taken seriously.

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It\'s got to be backed up
not only in sweet words

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but in strong deeds.

00:17:53.900 --> 00:17:57.467
This is a very,
very significant area,

00:17:57.500 --> 00:18:00.800
and what has begun
to be revealed about it

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in recent years,

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the focus being
at the Turner Falls airport,

00:18:09.267 --> 00:18:12.133
where an archaeological site

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referred to as the Hanneman site
has a ridge, a sandy ridge,

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with 12,000-year-old
encampment episodes,

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8,000-to 9,000-year-old
encampment episodes,

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and 2,000-year-old
encampment episodes.

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And therefore they determined
that they would save that.

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That would be protected,

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and they would go
to the other side of the runway

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and excavate.

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The other side of the runway was
a higher slope, a wooded slope.

00:18:51.433 --> 00:18:58.433
That wooded slope had on it,
unbeknownst to them,

00:18:58.467 --> 00:19:01.033
a ceremonial stone landscape.

00:19:05.533 --> 00:19:11.667
We came across to take a look,
and there was nothing visible.

00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:15.067
But what we did find
was under our feet.

00:19:15.100 --> 00:19:17.633
We could feel stones
under our feet

00:19:17.667 --> 00:19:20.467
in discreet piles.

00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:25.300
This one extends out
to where I\'m standing now,

00:19:25.333 --> 00:19:27.267
this stone underneath my feet.

00:19:27.300 --> 00:19:28.700
So you get a sense
of what we found

00:19:28.733 --> 00:19:31.267
when we first came here
and what,

00:19:31.300 --> 00:19:36.400
by careful removal
of the leaf debris,

00:19:36.433 --> 00:19:38.400
ends up being this kind
of stone pile

00:19:38.433 --> 00:19:40.867
and the others
that we have further up.

00:19:42.567 --> 00:19:46.133
And the stone piles
have elements in them

00:19:46.167 --> 00:19:51.500
that are symbolic,
given tribal culture.

00:19:51.533 --> 00:19:58.700
And the symbols tell us that
these are ceremonial piles.

00:19:58.733 --> 00:20:01.333
The kind of ceremony
and the kind of symbology

00:20:01.367 --> 00:20:07.400
would indicate that these are
in fact prayers in stone.

00:20:08.867 --> 00:20:12.700
These are the remnants
of our ancient civilization.

00:20:12.733 --> 00:20:15.767
You will find these remnants
in many places

00:20:15.800 --> 00:20:17.267
in different forms.

00:20:17.300 --> 00:20:19.233
And to speak of this,

00:20:19.267 --> 00:20:22.100
these are things that are known
by anthropologists.

00:20:22.133 --> 00:20:24.833
These are things that are known
all across

00:20:24.867 --> 00:20:27.867
what is now the United States
by anthropologists.

00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:31.433
They don\'t apply it, however,
to the Northeast.

00:20:31.467 --> 00:20:32.633
Somehow or other,

00:20:32.667 --> 00:20:36.067
the Northeast has become
this great blind spot

00:20:36.100 --> 00:20:39.367
in the study of the
anthropological community.

00:20:48.600 --> 00:20:50.900
Narrator: One of the first
American researchers

00:20:50.933 --> 00:20:54.533
to recognize the significance
of ritualized landscape

00:20:54.567 --> 00:20:57.133
was Ezra Stiles.

00:20:57.167 --> 00:20:58.967
He was an antiquarian born

00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:01.667
in New Haven, Connecticut,
in 1720.

00:21:01.700 --> 00:21:04.567
Early in the scientific
revolution,

00:21:04.600 --> 00:21:07.400
the amateur antiquarian scholars
of Europe

00:21:07.433 --> 00:21:09.967
began to discover
that the ancient mounds

00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.033
and standing stones
formed ceremonial designs

00:21:13.067 --> 00:21:14.333
over the land.

00:21:15.933 --> 00:21:18.800
Some of the early researchers
like Ezra Stiles

00:21:18.833 --> 00:21:21.400
were innovative in beginning
to see the ruins

00:21:21.433 --> 00:21:25.533
in a larger environmental
context.

00:21:25.567 --> 00:21:27.967
Antiquarian thinking
formed a bridge

00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:31.233
between the pagan landscape
mysticism of the past

00:21:31.267 --> 00:21:35.967
and the scientific methodologies
of the present.

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.933
Ezra Stiles was one of colonial
America\'s premier scholars,

00:21:39.967 --> 00:21:41.233
and he eventually became

00:21:41.267 --> 00:21:43.600
the president
of Yale University.

00:21:43.633 --> 00:21:46.233
But he began his career
as a traveling missionary

00:21:46.267 --> 00:21:49.133
to the local Indians.

00:21:49.167 --> 00:21:51.800
Throughout his life,
he kept diaries and notes

00:21:51.833 --> 00:21:53.933
about the ceremonial sites
he found

00:21:53.967 --> 00:21:56.633
during his journeys
across New England.

00:21:56.667 --> 00:21:59.100
His writing suggests
an understanding

00:21:59.133 --> 00:22:02.100
that the Native stoneworks
were positioned in the landscape

00:22:02.133 --> 00:22:04.100
at places that were
both culturally

00:22:04.133 --> 00:22:08.833
and environmentally significant.

00:22:08.867 --> 00:22:11.967
- \"On the side of the stream
a few feet from the fountain,

00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.533
\"I spied a carved
or wrought stone,

00:22:14.567 --> 00:22:16.933
\"which I know to be
one of the Indian gods

00:22:16.967 --> 00:22:19.967
\"of which I have found
above 20 in different places

00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:22.800
\"from Boston to Hudson\'s River.

00:22:22.833 --> 00:22:24.100
\"This place, therefore,

00:22:24.133 --> 00:22:26.333
\"was a place of Indian worship
and powwowing

00:22:26.367 --> 00:22:28.933
\"in the ancient
and forgotten ages.

00:22:28.967 --> 00:22:31.900
\"It was a mighty place
for the deer to resort.

00:22:31.933 --> 00:22:33.867
\"Here the Indians
and the landowners

00:22:33.900 --> 00:22:36.667
used to watch the deer
when they came.\"

00:22:39.267 --> 00:22:41.333
narrator: He was one
of the first Europeans

00:22:41.367 --> 00:22:44.300
to document what he called
the stone idols,

00:22:44.333 --> 00:22:46.300
and he was careful
to try and record

00:22:46.333 --> 00:22:50.200
their specific locations
in the landscape.

00:22:50.233 --> 00:22:53.200
He also recorded information
about the rituals

00:22:53.233 --> 00:22:55.767
performed at the stones
and, surprisingly,

00:22:55.800 --> 00:22:58.267
for a conservative Puritan
minister,

00:22:58.300 --> 00:23:00.233
he recognized
that the sites offered

00:23:00.267 --> 00:23:02.200
a special sense of place,

00:23:02.233 --> 00:23:03.767
a quality that could be felt

00:23:03.800 --> 00:23:07.500
by both Natives
and settlers together.

00:23:10.933 --> 00:23:13.267
- \"There is a large heap
of stones -

00:23:13.300 --> 00:23:14.967
\"I suppose ten cart loads -

00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:16.700
\"on the way to Wnahktukook,

00:23:16.733 --> 00:23:18.400
\"which Indians
have thrown together

00:23:18.433 --> 00:23:20.200
\"as they\'ve passed the place,

00:23:20.233 --> 00:23:23.433
\"for it used to be their custom
every time one passed by

00:23:23.467 --> 00:23:25.533
\"to throw a stone upon it.

00:23:25.567 --> 00:23:29.100
\"But what was their reason
for it they cannot tell.

00:23:29.133 --> 00:23:31.933
\"The Indians continue
the custom to this day,

00:23:31.967 --> 00:23:33.567
\"though they are
a little ashamed

00:23:33.600 --> 00:23:34.867
\"the English should see them,

00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:37.933
\"and accordingly,
when walking with an Englishman,

00:23:37.967 --> 00:23:40.500
\"they make a path around
a quarter of a mile\'s distance

00:23:40.533 --> 00:23:42.433
to avoid it.\"

00:23:42.467 --> 00:23:44.833
narrator: The Indian guides
may have been embarrassed,

00:23:44.867 --> 00:23:48.167
or perhaps they simply wanted
to avoid taking a missionary

00:23:48.200 --> 00:23:49.800
to a sacred place.

00:23:49.833 --> 00:23:52.333
But Stiles learned enough
to become convinced

00:23:52.367 --> 00:23:54.333
the stones were important.

00:23:54.367 --> 00:23:56.133
Near the end of his life,

00:23:56.167 --> 00:23:57.407
in a letter to the newly formed

00:23:57.433 --> 00:24:00.600
American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, he wrote...

00:24:00.633 --> 00:24:03.967
- \"I know I expose myself
to be considered as carried away

00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:06.333
\"into imagination
and conjecture,

00:24:06.367 --> 00:24:08.333
\"but I\'m willing to risk
this imputation

00:24:08.367 --> 00:24:09.367
\"if I could stir up

00:24:09.400 --> 00:24:11.400
\"a general inquiry
and examination

00:24:11.433 --> 00:24:15.333
of the rock and stone
antiquities of America.\"

00:24:17.033 --> 00:24:20.100
narrator: As the frontier
of the new nation pushed west,

00:24:20.133 --> 00:24:23.000
Americans found ancient
ceremonial architecture

00:24:23.033 --> 00:24:26.867
in almost every region
of the country.

00:24:26.900 --> 00:24:29.500
But despite Ezra Stiles\'
pioneering effort,

00:24:29.533 --> 00:24:32.833
archaeologists have never
recognized the Northeast

00:24:32.867 --> 00:24:35.933
as a place where earlier peoples
left ritual designs

00:24:35.967 --> 00:24:38.200
in their landscape.

00:24:38.233 --> 00:24:40.333
- The civilization
of the Northeast,

00:24:40.367 --> 00:24:43.633
the remnants of it
are still here.

00:24:43.667 --> 00:24:47.967
Our concern is, one,
the common concern is,

00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.633
why destroy something
of antiquity

00:24:50.667 --> 00:24:55.067
when in fact it can be preserved
for its specialness?

00:24:55.100 --> 00:24:57.433
That makes it special
not only to us

00:24:57.467 --> 00:24:59.833
but to the community around it,

00:24:59.867 --> 00:25:02.933
the people whose backyard
this is.

00:25:02.967 --> 00:25:03.933
It is theirs.

00:25:03.967 --> 00:25:07.800
They are the stewards of it,

00:25:07.833 --> 00:25:10.233
and they may or they may not
understand what it is

00:25:10.267 --> 00:25:13.667
that they\'re protecting,
but protect it.

00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:15.267
A place like this, however,

00:25:15.300 --> 00:25:17.367
is not just a collection
of stones

00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:20.233
or not just a stone ceremony

00:25:20.267 --> 00:25:23.867
that was done hundreds
or thousands of years ago.

00:25:23.900 --> 00:25:26.467
This is a living ceremony.

00:25:27.633 --> 00:25:34.300
This stone pile
has a worked stone.

00:25:34.333 --> 00:25:38.033
It\'s notched with a point,

00:25:38.067 --> 00:25:41.800
and in the texts,
it\'s referred to as

00:25:41.833 --> 00:25:47.733
a spirit stone or a god stone
or a Manitou stone.

00:25:47.767 --> 00:25:52.733
This one faces in the direction
of the southwest.

00:25:52.767 --> 00:25:54.533
And to the Narragansett

00:25:54.567 --> 00:25:57.767
and to many of the other tribes
of the Northeastern region,

00:25:57.800 --> 00:26:04.767
the direction of the southwest
is the direction to God\'s house.

00:26:04.800 --> 00:26:06.000
For the Narragansett,

00:26:06.033 --> 00:26:10.133
that is the direction
to Kautantowit\'s house,

00:26:10.167 --> 00:26:13.233
Kautantowit being the name
of the god

00:26:13.267 --> 00:26:17.433
from whence crow brought
the seed of the corn,

00:26:17.467 --> 00:26:18.733
the bean, and the squash

00:26:18.767 --> 00:26:22.200
that allowed for there to be
agricultural abundance

00:26:22.233 --> 00:26:25.333
for Native people
in this region.

00:26:25.367 --> 00:26:30.600
It\'s also the direction
to which the souls go.

00:26:30.633 --> 00:26:35.100
One hopes to arrive
in Kautantowit\'s house.

00:26:44.533 --> 00:26:46.700
We are told
through the oral history

00:26:46.733 --> 00:26:50.633
that people of many nations
knew that they could come here,

00:26:50.667 --> 00:26:54.033
and they could come here
in peace and in welcome

00:26:54.067 --> 00:26:58.633
to partake of the great harvest.

00:26:58.667 --> 00:27:03.467
And the Narragansett,

00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:05.167
under federal law,

00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.667
are one of the federally
recognized Indian tribes

00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:14.767
that stand in the protection
of what was once Pocumtuck,

00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:16.300
that stand in the protection

00:27:16.333 --> 00:27:22.000
of what was once
Narragansett here.

00:27:22.033 --> 00:27:26.667
In this place where these
stone piles are,

00:27:26.700 --> 00:27:30.433
by federal law,
we have the right to consult

00:27:30.467 --> 00:27:35.867
on the destruction of an area

00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:39.267
that may in fact be
of cultural significance.

00:27:42.767 --> 00:27:47.633
What we ask is that
this manifestation

00:27:47.667 --> 00:27:52.800
of our ancient civilization
should be protected.

00:27:52.833 --> 00:27:57.900
And we ask, and we invite you,
be you Indian or non-Indian,

00:27:57.933 --> 00:28:04.233
to participate in the protection
of places like this.

00:28:04.267 --> 00:28:09.900
This is not an \"Oh, wow,\"
kind of stone monument.

00:28:09.933 --> 00:28:11.767
It\'s not something big
and massive,

00:28:11.800 --> 00:28:14.367
and there are many of those
that can be found.

00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:19.433
It does not have an obvious
intricacy and formalism

00:28:19.467 --> 00:28:21.667
that, from the European
perspective,

00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:23.800
makes one say,
\"Oh, yes, definitely.

00:28:23.833 --> 00:28:25.600
Let\'s preserve this.\"

00:28:25.633 --> 00:28:29.100
It\'s not an effigy.

00:28:29.133 --> 00:28:33.100
It\'s not a turtle,
or it\'s not a serpent

00:28:33.133 --> 00:28:37.700
that\'s readily identifiable
visually.

00:28:37.733 --> 00:28:41.400
This is a prayer,

00:28:41.433 --> 00:28:43.667
a series of prayers in stone.

00:28:46.833 --> 00:28:53.633
- How many archaeologists
have that much experience

00:28:53.667 --> 00:28:58.933
with collections of stones?

00:28:58.967 --> 00:29:01.467
- Well, I believe
that in some instances,

00:29:01.500 --> 00:29:03.933
the kinds of things
we\'re talking about

00:29:03.967 --> 00:29:08.900
are simply unpopular
in the archaeological forum.

00:29:08.933 --> 00:29:13.200
So archaeologists who have
a comprehension of these things

00:29:13.233 --> 00:29:14.533
because they\'ve been seeing them

00:29:14.567 --> 00:29:17.100
over and over and over again
in their careers

00:29:17.133 --> 00:29:19.400
simply haven\'t been talking
about them

00:29:19.433 --> 00:29:21.367
for fear of ridicule.

00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:23.600
- Oh, I can ima -
yeah.

00:29:23.633 --> 00:29:25.667
- And so, you know,
to the extent that we can,

00:29:25.700 --> 00:29:27.867
we wish to open up the dialogue.

00:29:32.667 --> 00:29:34.667
Narrator: A surprisingly
bitter controversy

00:29:34.700 --> 00:29:37.733
about culture and landscape
has attached itself

00:29:37.767 --> 00:29:42.000
to the stone ruins
of eastern North America.

00:29:42.033 --> 00:29:44.733
The arguments between
professional archaeologists

00:29:44.767 --> 00:29:48.200
and avocational researchers
about who built the monuments

00:29:48.233 --> 00:29:51.667
were generally a debate
between two choices:

00:29:51.700 --> 00:29:53.900
Europeans who came
before Columbus

00:29:53.933 --> 00:29:56.367
or the Europeans who came after.

00:30:00.267 --> 00:30:02.500
The idea that eastern Natives

00:30:02.533 --> 00:30:04.633
may have built
ceremonial architecture

00:30:04.667 --> 00:30:07.433
hasn\'t been considered
as an acceptable explanation

00:30:07.467 --> 00:30:09.400
by either side.

00:30:09.433 --> 00:30:12.167
- Anyhow,
it\'s an unlikely hypothesis

00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.400
that we have no tradition
of Native peoples

00:30:14.433 --> 00:30:17.833
until after the colonists
get here of utiliz -

00:30:17.867 --> 00:30:20.267
piling stone in any way.

00:30:20.300 --> 00:30:23.733
We don\'t see
stone wall utilization

00:30:23.767 --> 00:30:26.400
until Europeans come here
with a tradition

00:30:26.433 --> 00:30:27.667
of stone wall building:

00:30:27.700 --> 00:30:32.367
the English, the Irish,
who have a whole tradition

00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:35.433
going back a thousand years
of stone wall working,

00:30:35.467 --> 00:30:36.567
stoneworking.

00:30:36.600 --> 00:30:38.267
When those colonists came here,

00:30:38.300 --> 00:30:40.533
I mean, look at all the raw
material they had to work with.

00:30:40.567 --> 00:30:42.867
And they started doing
the same thing on farms here

00:30:42.900 --> 00:30:44.300
so that we do get stone features

00:30:44.333 --> 00:30:46.100
that mimic what was going on
in the Old World,

00:30:46.133 --> 00:30:48.400
because people were bringing
their traditions over here

00:30:48.433 --> 00:30:50.567
in the 17th and 18th
and 19th centuries.

00:30:50.600 --> 00:30:54.100
But we have no tradition
of Native Americans

00:30:54.133 --> 00:30:59.000
piling stones in any, any form
that have been verified.

00:30:59.033 --> 00:31:02.600
- Those of us who know
our oral tradition

00:31:02.633 --> 00:31:08.733
and originations know that
that\'s not correct.

00:31:08.767 --> 00:31:12.967
Narrator: Dr. Ella Sekatau
is the tribal ethno-historian

00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:14.100
and medicine woman

00:31:14.133 --> 00:31:16.333
for the Narragansett
of Rhode Island.

00:31:16.367 --> 00:31:19.767
She was first brought
to this site by her grandfather.

00:31:19.800 --> 00:31:25.267
- They don\'t want to give
the Indians credit for anything.

00:31:25.300 --> 00:31:28.633
And there is evidence
if they look.

00:31:28.667 --> 00:31:31.567
It is there.

00:31:31.600 --> 00:31:33.733
Narrator: The stone construction
was described

00:31:33.767 --> 00:31:37.233
by the early colonists
as a military fort.

00:31:37.267 --> 00:31:39.967
- It wasn\'t a fort.

00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.900
It was more
of an observation area,

00:31:44.933 --> 00:31:50.367
a place for
the typical celebrations

00:31:50.400 --> 00:31:52.600
that would go on,

00:31:52.633 --> 00:31:57.967
depending on the time of year
and the moons of the year.

00:31:58.000 --> 00:31:59.667
- People shouldn\'t be surprised

00:31:59.700 --> 00:32:02.700
that Natives
in the broader New England

00:32:02.733 --> 00:32:07.133
and northeastern areas made
stone structures in the past.

00:32:07.167 --> 00:32:09.833
Cumulatively, we have
bits and pieces of evidence

00:32:09.867 --> 00:32:12.133
that suggest that they were
quite capable

00:32:12.167 --> 00:32:14.333
and sometimes perhaps

00:32:14.367 --> 00:32:16.600
even regularly building
stone structures.

00:32:16.633 --> 00:32:20.233
For example, at Sebasticook
in central Maine,

00:32:20.267 --> 00:32:23.433
we have evidence of
a substantial stone fish weir,

00:32:23.467 --> 00:32:26.300
a wall built across a river
to channel fish,

00:32:26.333 --> 00:32:28.667
presumably
into some kind of a trap,

00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:31.033
that dates,
through radiocarbon dating,

00:32:31.067 --> 00:32:34.200
between about 6,000
and 1,000 years ago.

00:32:34.233 --> 00:32:37.500
So Native people
had that technology down

00:32:37.533 --> 00:32:38.800
there in central Maine.

00:32:38.833 --> 00:32:41.533
Also at locations
in Connecticut,

00:32:41.567 --> 00:32:44.500
for example,
the Housatonic River valley,

00:32:44.533 --> 00:32:46.933
many different stone fish weirs
were built in time,

00:32:46.967 --> 00:32:49.833
presumably more recently
than those in Maine.

00:32:49.867 --> 00:32:52.833
So Native people
certainly had the competency

00:32:52.867 --> 00:32:56.833
and were certainly doing
stone structure construction

00:32:56.867 --> 00:32:58.067
at different points in the past,

00:32:58.100 --> 00:33:00.600
in the Archaic
and the Woodland periods,

00:33:00.633 --> 00:33:02.833
probably right up
to historic times.

00:33:02.867 --> 00:33:05.267
And I think all of this
put together suggests

00:33:05.300 --> 00:33:09.100
that just like many other
aspects of local archaeology,

00:33:09.133 --> 00:33:11.000
regional archaeology,

00:33:11.033 --> 00:33:14.467
we have underappreciated
Native capabilities

00:33:14.500 --> 00:33:16.767
and Native practices
in the past.

00:33:18.767 --> 00:33:25.467
- The archaeological community
is beginning to look at the data

00:33:25.500 --> 00:33:27.367
to the extent that it can

00:33:27.400 --> 00:33:29.533
through the eyes
and the sensibility

00:33:29.567 --> 00:33:34.067
of the tribes who are beginning
to speak up about these issues.

00:33:34.100 --> 00:33:39.333
And it is our prayer
that we can begin

00:33:39.367 --> 00:33:42.033
to sensitize
the archaeological community

00:33:42.067 --> 00:33:45.367
to look with different eyes
and different analytical tools

00:33:45.400 --> 00:33:47.267
other than the tool
of destruction

00:33:47.300 --> 00:33:50.667
in order to gather
and extract data

00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:53.800
but to find other ways
of leaving intact

00:33:53.833 --> 00:34:00.467
the living ceremony that was
placed here by our ancestors.

00:34:09.800 --> 00:34:11.333
Narrator: In the Great Swamp,

00:34:11.367 --> 00:34:14.800
the same place where the first
Narragansett refugee massacre

00:34:14.833 --> 00:34:16.900
took place in Rhode Island,

00:34:16.933 --> 00:34:19.100
a recent accidental discovery

00:34:19.133 --> 00:34:21.133
offers
new archaeological evidence

00:34:21.167 --> 00:34:24.667
about the existence
of small-scale ceremonial sites

00:34:24.700 --> 00:34:27.500
that could easily be overlooked.

00:34:29.167 --> 00:34:32.133
In 2007, replacement power lines

00:34:32.167 --> 00:34:36.100
were being laid
across the swamp.

00:34:36.133 --> 00:34:37.600
Ahead of the construction,

00:34:37.633 --> 00:34:39.633
archaeologists
were ground testing

00:34:39.667 --> 00:34:42.567
where the posts were to be set.

00:34:42.600 --> 00:34:45.400
One random test hole went down
a couple of feet

00:34:45.433 --> 00:34:48.367
directly into the charcoal
remains of a fire pit

00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:52.667
that was radiocarbon-dated
to over 4,000 years ago.

00:34:52.700 --> 00:34:53.967
Paul Robinson,

00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:56.033
the state archaeologist
of Rhode Island,

00:34:56.067 --> 00:34:59.800
joined Doug Harris
to inspect the new excavation.

00:34:59.833 --> 00:35:03.100
- We\'re still in the business
of discovering America.

00:35:03.133 --> 00:35:06.300
And part of that discovery
is bringing together

00:35:06.333 --> 00:35:08.333
the best of archaeology,
the best of the documents

00:35:08.367 --> 00:35:09.633
that the Europeans left behind,

00:35:09.667 --> 00:35:12.500
and the oral traditions
that are alive today.

00:35:12.533 --> 00:35:19.133
And so this is an opportunity
to do that, and it\'s small,

00:35:19.167 --> 00:35:21.533
but it might be part
of something much bigger.

00:35:21.567 --> 00:35:23.300
- There was nothing
visible here.

00:35:23.333 --> 00:35:27.633
This was just grassy,
weedy soil.

00:35:27.667 --> 00:35:32.267
And the random matrix
of the test pits

00:35:32.300 --> 00:35:37.567
came down
right into that hearth.

00:35:37.600 --> 00:35:39.733
Luck of the Indian.

00:35:39.767 --> 00:35:43.200
And where nothing was visible,

00:35:43.233 --> 00:35:45.633
the archaeological
process revealed

00:35:45.667 --> 00:35:49.433
and the Indian insistence
revealed all of this.

00:35:49.467 --> 00:35:51.667
- The fact that this stone
survives

00:35:51.700 --> 00:35:54.867
and Narragansett people
are telling us what it means

00:35:54.900 --> 00:36:00.567
is just a wonderful thing
that we just have to appreciate.

00:36:00.600 --> 00:36:06.333
And I don\'t know how to say
that without sounding stupid.

00:36:06.367 --> 00:36:10.400
But it\'s a remarkable thing.

00:36:10.433 --> 00:36:13.367
- Prior to full excavation,

00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:16.867
this area had been excavated
down to -

00:36:16.900 --> 00:36:19.300
and that\'s what\'s
in this photograph.

00:36:19.333 --> 00:36:24.300
And what we have is a line

00:36:24.333 --> 00:36:28.033
that is pointed directly
to the southwest.

00:36:30.233 --> 00:36:35.200
We were probably about here.

00:36:35.233 --> 00:36:37.967
And it was determined
that the best thing

00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:39.767
at that point
was to just go ahead

00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:41.800
and close it up,

00:36:41.833 --> 00:36:44.400
because there was
nothing else to see.

00:36:44.433 --> 00:36:49.267
And we requested that there be
a greater reveal.

00:36:49.300 --> 00:36:53.833
And at that point,
what was noticed was the tops

00:36:53.867 --> 00:36:57.633
of a couple of these stones,
the very tops.

00:36:57.667 --> 00:37:02.200
And there was probably about
five inches of duff on top.

00:37:02.233 --> 00:37:07.833
And what was then revealed
was this circle of stones

00:37:07.867 --> 00:37:10.767
around the pointed end.

00:37:10.800 --> 00:37:13.100
- One of the things that\'s
frustrated me about archaeology

00:37:13.133 --> 00:37:15.100
over the years is
the endless speculation.

00:37:15.133 --> 00:37:17.367
You get a bunch of scholars
in the same room,

00:37:17.400 --> 00:37:19.100
and there\'s just this endless
speculation

00:37:19.133 --> 00:37:21.233
about things like this,

00:37:21.267 --> 00:37:24.733
whereas tribal authorities
speak with certitude.

00:37:24.767 --> 00:37:25.807
They speak with certainty.

00:37:25.833 --> 00:37:28.067
So if we can combine
that certainty

00:37:28.100 --> 00:37:32.533
with the science of archaeology,
I think we\'ll maybe begin -

00:37:32.567 --> 00:37:35.000
and, you know, I just speak
for myself here -

00:37:35.033 --> 00:37:37.933
begin to understand this place
that we stand on.

00:37:37.967 --> 00:37:44.933
- A carbon date charcoal
found at this ceremonial stone,

00:37:44.967 --> 00:37:49.200
what does that now do
for the presumption

00:37:49.233 --> 00:37:56.000
that every pile of rocks was
put there by colonial farmers?

00:37:56.033 --> 00:38:00.367
- Well, I - it depends on
who your audience is.

00:38:00.400 --> 00:38:04.333
If you\'re talking
about the presumption

00:38:04.367 --> 00:38:06.500
among NEARA people,

00:38:06.533 --> 00:38:08.300
you know, it doesn\'t do anything
to change it.

00:38:08.333 --> 00:38:10.000
If you\'re talking
about presumption among

00:38:10.033 --> 00:38:12.000
traditional Narragansett people,

00:38:12.033 --> 00:38:14.000
it doesn\'t do anything
to change that.

00:38:14.033 --> 00:38:17.567
Archaeologists, dyed-in-the-wool
scientific archaeologists,

00:38:17.600 --> 00:38:19.100
it might not change that either,

00:38:19.133 --> 00:38:22.267
because
how does one actually know

00:38:22.300 --> 00:38:24.100
that the date\'s associated
with the feature?

00:38:24.133 --> 00:38:29.433
Maybe they\'re two
separate events.

00:38:29.467 --> 00:38:34.733
But that sort of interpretation
is now just limited

00:38:34.767 --> 00:38:38.133
to archaeologists who do
archaeology for its own sake,

00:38:38.167 --> 00:38:41.100
not archaeology as a tool
to understand larger things

00:38:41.133 --> 00:38:42.100
about human beings.

00:38:42.133 --> 00:38:43.167
- So that\'s -

00:38:43.200 --> 00:38:45.367
- So, I mean,
the date will never -

00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:49.067
you\'ll never convince
redneck archaeologists

00:38:49.100 --> 00:38:52.733
that that date\'s associated
with this thing.

00:38:52.767 --> 00:38:55.333
But maybe you don\'t need to,

00:38:55.367 --> 00:38:57.333
because the number
of redneck archaeologists,

00:38:57.367 --> 00:38:59.167
I think, is getting smaller
and smaller.

00:39:07.900 --> 00:39:13.233
- We initiated a relationship
with the FAA

00:39:13.267 --> 00:39:16.500
in an attempt to get them
to understand

00:39:16.533 --> 00:39:19.400
that this was a ceremonial site.

00:39:19.433 --> 00:39:24.400
It was their perception,
as best we could decipher,

00:39:24.433 --> 00:39:27.533
that that was something
that had to be destroyed,

00:39:27.567 --> 00:39:31.267
that they needed to take
that hill out.

00:39:31.300 --> 00:39:36.833
And what they proceeded to do
was to inform us

00:39:36.867 --> 00:39:39.233
that they were going to
cut all the trees

00:39:39.267 --> 00:39:41.533
as a matter of maintenance.

00:39:41.567 --> 00:39:44.433
We requested
that it not be done.

00:39:44.467 --> 00:39:46.433
And they informed us
that it had to be done.

00:39:46.467 --> 00:39:48.433
The machinery, apparently,

00:39:48.467 --> 00:39:54.200
after the Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation

00:39:54.233 --> 00:39:56.433
sent a letter to FAA indicating

00:39:56.467 --> 00:39:58.700
nothing should be done
to that hill,

00:39:58.733 --> 00:40:02.200
machinery was allowed in,
was sent in, was brought in,

00:40:02.233 --> 00:40:07.400
and it clear-cut
the whole of that hill.

00:40:09.333 --> 00:40:13.600
It both impacted
ceremonial stones,

00:40:13.633 --> 00:40:17.133
and in the process,
it churned up others,

00:40:17.167 --> 00:40:21.400
revealing more
ceremonial stone landscape

00:40:21.433 --> 00:40:25.533
than we had previously been able
to unearth with our hands.

00:40:25.567 --> 00:40:31.800
One Manitou stone was found
in the tracks, in a rut,

00:40:31.833 --> 00:40:34.400
left by the equipment
that was there.

00:40:42.733 --> 00:40:45.200
Narrator: Traditional
Native voices suggest

00:40:45.233 --> 00:40:48.000
that the importance of
the stone mounds near the falls

00:40:48.033 --> 00:40:49.433
cannot be understood

00:40:49.467 --> 00:40:53.700
unless they are taken in context
with other ceremonial places

00:40:53.733 --> 00:40:57.567
that might exist in a radius
around the airport location.

00:41:08.733 --> 00:41:13.267
- There are certain areas,
probably the Turner Falls area,

00:41:13.300 --> 00:41:14.433
the Greenfield area.

00:41:14.467 --> 00:41:18.900
It\'s one area
of maybe five such sites

00:41:18.933 --> 00:41:23.733
in New England of that type.

00:41:23.767 --> 00:41:28.267
Now, there are other sites
and local sites

00:41:28.300 --> 00:41:32.133
for, you know,
the individual tribes

00:41:32.167 --> 00:41:33.300
where they would have come,

00:41:33.333 --> 00:41:36.200
and they would have banded
together.

00:41:36.233 --> 00:41:41.867
But a site that was used
by a multiplicity of tribes,

00:41:41.900 --> 00:41:44.367
that was probably one of five.

00:41:45.967 --> 00:41:49.367
I know of maybe two,

00:41:49.400 --> 00:41:52.133
and I\'ve been told of,
when I was a child,

00:41:52.167 --> 00:41:54.267
of two or three more.

00:41:55.833 --> 00:41:59.933
Those types of sites
are not singular sites.

00:41:59.967 --> 00:42:03.300
They\'re not a single event.

00:42:03.333 --> 00:42:08.300
The Turners Falls site has to be
taken in that same context.

00:42:08.333 --> 00:42:11.200
It has to be taken
where a people

00:42:11.233 --> 00:42:14.433
had much broader horizons.

00:42:14.467 --> 00:42:17.200
At the top of that knoll,

00:42:17.233 --> 00:42:25.233
they had a 360-degree view
of the surrounding landscape.

00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:29.433
And so the ceremonies
that were performed there

00:42:29.467 --> 00:42:33.233
would have been performed
simultaneously at other places.

00:42:35.700 --> 00:42:41.267
That area was one simple locus
of many loci

00:42:41.300 --> 00:42:45.433
in which simultaneous ceremonies
would have been held.

00:43:24.133 --> 00:43:26.267
Narrator: When the forest
on the hillside overlooking

00:43:26.300 --> 00:43:28.933
the Turners Falls Airport
was clear-cut,

00:43:28.967 --> 00:43:31.500
researchers were able
for the first time

00:43:31.533 --> 00:43:33.633
to see west
across the distant hills

00:43:33.667 --> 00:43:36.567
to the landscape\'s edge
where the sun would set

00:43:36.600 --> 00:43:39.100
at different positions
along the horizon line

00:43:39.133 --> 00:43:41.200
at different times of the year.

00:43:52.000 --> 00:43:54.167
At about the midpoint
of the stone row

00:43:54.200 --> 00:43:57.500
that runs northeast to southwest
across the ridge,

00:43:57.533 --> 00:44:01.267
three boulders were set in
what appeared to be a pattern,

00:44:01.300 --> 00:44:04.500
a triangular shape that directed
a viewer\'s attention

00:44:04.533 --> 00:44:08.133
toward the western horizon.

00:44:09.633 --> 00:44:11.500
Harris
and the Native researchers

00:44:11.533 --> 00:44:14.200
began to work with a group
of antiquarians

00:44:14.233 --> 00:44:16.333
to collect local oral history

00:44:16.367 --> 00:44:17.900
and to investigate the landscape

00:44:17.933 --> 00:44:20.833
surrounding the site
at the airport.

00:44:20.867 --> 00:44:23.933
- Well, it\'s up the slope
of that hill there

00:44:23.967 --> 00:44:25.133
that has a tower on top.

00:44:25.167 --> 00:44:26.300
Narrator: Ironically,

00:44:26.333 --> 00:44:28.033
it was the clear-cutting
of the hillside

00:44:28.067 --> 00:44:33.733
that opened a new perspective
on the Native landscape.

00:44:33.767 --> 00:44:35.467
- Nothing - nothing definite.

00:44:35.500 --> 00:44:41.500
- Well, but as the sun comes
down at a 45-degree angle,

00:44:41.533 --> 00:44:43.267
the path of the sun is gonna go

00:44:43.300 --> 00:44:46.433
right into the angle
of that mountain cap.

00:44:46.467 --> 00:44:48.733
- Yeah, yeah.

00:44:48.767 --> 00:44:54.000
- August 11th and August 12th

00:44:54.033 --> 00:45:00.200
was the Saturday
and Sunday celebration

00:45:00.233 --> 00:45:03.933
of the 332nd August -

00:45:03.967 --> 00:45:06.733
recorded August meeting

00:45:06.767 --> 00:45:08.100
that has been established

00:45:08.133 --> 00:45:11.500
since colonial times
in colonial records

00:45:11.533 --> 00:45:14.133
that the Narragansetts
have come together

00:45:14.167 --> 00:45:18.033
to hold that particular
celebration.

00:45:18.067 --> 00:45:22.433
Narrator: August 11th and 12th
also represent the peak activity

00:45:22.467 --> 00:45:25.000
of the annual
Perseid meteor shower.

00:45:25.033 --> 00:45:29.133
This is often a stunning
visual display of meteor trails

00:45:29.167 --> 00:45:30.967
that fly toward the southwest

00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:35.000
from their apparent origin
in the northeast.

00:45:35.033 --> 00:45:37.100
There is an old tradition
among native groups

00:45:37.133 --> 00:45:39.000
in the Western Hemisphere

00:45:39.033 --> 00:45:43.133
that the annual Perseid meteor
showers represent departed souls

00:45:43.167 --> 00:45:47.633
who have left the Earth
to enter the upper world.

00:45:47.667 --> 00:45:50.900
The Milky Way was thought
to be a river in the sky

00:45:50.933 --> 00:45:54.567
on which souls would travel from
the northeast to the southwest,

00:45:54.600 --> 00:45:57.700
where there was an entrance
to the realm of the ancestors

00:45:57.733 --> 00:46:01.433
near the constellation Scorpius.

00:46:01.467 --> 00:46:05.167
In fact, the actual center
of the Milky Way galaxy

00:46:05.200 --> 00:46:07.733
is just above the tail
of Scorpius.

00:46:10.267 --> 00:46:12.100
For many Native Americans,

00:46:12.133 --> 00:46:14.300
the constellation
wasn\'t a scorpion

00:46:14.333 --> 00:46:17.800
as we have inherited
the image from the Old World.

00:46:17.833 --> 00:46:19.767
For example, to the Cherokee,

00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:22.267
it was a giant serpent
called Uktena

00:46:22.300 --> 00:46:23.767
with two great horns

00:46:23.800 --> 00:46:25.800
and a bright red
diamond-like gem

00:46:25.833 --> 00:46:27.500
on its forehead.

00:46:27.533 --> 00:46:29.800
Antares is the giant red star

00:46:29.833 --> 00:46:32.467
near the head
of the constellation.

00:46:32.500 --> 00:46:37.033
Perhaps an echo of this belief
in travel across the sky

00:46:37.067 --> 00:46:39.233
can be found
at the August celebrations

00:46:39.267 --> 00:46:40.500
of the Narragansett,

00:46:40.533 --> 00:46:43.067
where they still enter
their ceremonial ground

00:46:43.100 --> 00:46:44.833
from the direction
of the northeast

00:46:44.867 --> 00:46:48.533
toward the southwest.

00:46:48.567 --> 00:46:50.800
Around the beginning of August,

00:46:50.833 --> 00:46:52.633
the low stone row on the hill

00:46:52.667 --> 00:46:55.300
lies parallel to the path
of the Milky Way

00:46:55.333 --> 00:46:57.333
and the meteor shower up above.

00:46:59.133 --> 00:47:00.633
On August 13th,

00:47:00.667 --> 00:47:01.800
the sun set at an angle

00:47:01.833 --> 00:47:04.567
of approximately 290 degrees

00:47:04.600 --> 00:47:07.867
from the viewing position
along the stone row.

00:47:07.900 --> 00:47:09.433
- Of course, there was no Indian

00:47:09.467 --> 00:47:13.733
creating a sunset at 290 degrees
with a compass.

00:47:13.767 --> 00:47:21.100
290 degrees was irrelevant to
a process a thousand years ago.

00:47:21.133 --> 00:47:23.833
But knowing that from here,

00:47:23.867 --> 00:47:27.500
at the highest point
on this row,

00:47:27.533 --> 00:47:31.900
that sun was going to set there
at the highest point,

00:47:31.933 --> 00:47:34.267
the highest concentration
of the meteor shower

00:47:34.300 --> 00:47:36.700
into the southwest,
that would have been important.

00:47:36.733 --> 00:47:39.400
That would have been
the important data.

00:47:39.433 --> 00:47:43.300
Narrator: Let\'s follow
the line of 290 degrees

00:47:43.333 --> 00:47:47.933
and see what\'s on the horizon.

00:47:47.967 --> 00:47:49.933
Starting at the hill
near the airport,

00:47:49.967 --> 00:47:52.200
the line reaches across
the landscape

00:47:52.233 --> 00:47:55.600
to the highest mountain visible
to the west.

00:47:55.633 --> 00:47:57.300
- Pocumtuck Mountain.

00:47:57.333 --> 00:48:00.200
How it gets its name
I don\'t know.

00:48:00.233 --> 00:48:03.233
I don\'t know if it was
from ancient time

00:48:03.267 --> 00:48:07.700
or if in recognition
of the relationship

00:48:07.733 --> 00:48:13.267
to the Pocumtuck people
of this region

00:48:13.300 --> 00:48:16.500
and such events as the one
we\'re now dealing with

00:48:16.533 --> 00:48:20.167
here along this ridge -

00:48:20.200 --> 00:48:22.733
it was given in honor of them,

00:48:22.767 --> 00:48:24.600
because there are in fact

00:48:24.633 --> 00:48:30.400
ceremonial stones
on Pocumtuck Mountain.

00:48:30.433 --> 00:48:32.900
Narrator: On the western edge
of Pocumtuck Mountain,

00:48:32.933 --> 00:48:36.000
the line starting at the airport
and following northwest

00:48:36.033 --> 00:48:38.400
at a bearing of 290 degrees

00:48:38.433 --> 00:48:42.533
passes over a high ridge
known as Burnt Hill.

00:49:16.767 --> 00:49:18.900
- The Indians burned off
this hill

00:49:18.933 --> 00:49:20.567
for the same reason I do,

00:49:20.600 --> 00:49:24.300
and that\'s to replenish
the berries.

00:49:24.333 --> 00:49:27.833
I do it on a three-year cycle,
1/3 every year,

00:49:27.867 --> 00:49:30.000
and that gets rid of the brush.

00:49:30.033 --> 00:49:31.833
Plus, it rejuvenates the plant.

00:49:31.867 --> 00:49:34.267
It\'s a type of pruning process.

00:49:34.300 --> 00:49:37.933
But I kind of believe
that the colonists

00:49:37.967 --> 00:49:39.200
put that name on this hill

00:49:39.233 --> 00:49:42.667
because the Indians
did burn it off.

00:49:42.700 --> 00:49:44.400
We know the Indians were here.

00:49:44.433 --> 00:49:46.567
We know they used
the blueberries.

00:49:46.600 --> 00:49:50.633
Then why not go by that theory
that that\'s where it came from,

00:49:50.667 --> 00:49:54.633
that this was burnt off
by the Indians

00:49:54.667 --> 00:49:56.633
when the settlers first came?

00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:03.000
One day, an Indian from Otis
came up here.

00:50:03.033 --> 00:50:04.467
He was a full-blooded Indian.

00:50:04.500 --> 00:50:07.267
And I\'m not good with names
and all that kind of stuff,

00:50:07.300 --> 00:50:10.433
so it\'s kind of lost,
but I do have his name.

00:50:10.467 --> 00:50:16.667
But he came up and asked
if he could have permission

00:50:16.700 --> 00:50:19.133
to have
three Indian chiefs come up

00:50:19.167 --> 00:50:23.367
and have a ceremony up here
at the stones.

00:50:23.400 --> 00:50:26.033
And of course I said yes,
and then they came up.

00:50:26.067 --> 00:50:28.467
One of them was
from Massachusetts,

00:50:28.500 --> 00:50:30.140
and then there was one
from New York State

00:50:30.167 --> 00:50:32.000
and then another one
from North Dakota.

00:50:32.033 --> 00:50:35.267
And they were all Indian chiefs
of different tribes.

00:50:35.300 --> 00:50:38.767
Anyway, they brought a drum up
about three feet in diameter

00:50:38.800 --> 00:50:40.433
and put it on the stone.

00:50:40.467 --> 00:50:45.233
And very emotional
for this white man

00:50:45.267 --> 00:50:51.100
to see these Native people
absorbing what\'s here.

00:50:51.133 --> 00:50:57.333
The one from North Dakota
said that he felt

00:50:57.367 --> 00:51:00.067
this was probably
the rendezvous point

00:51:00.100 --> 00:51:01.400
for the eastern Indians,

00:51:01.433 --> 00:51:05.500
for them to have
a neutral ground ceremony

00:51:05.533 --> 00:51:07.833
at a neutral ground place.

00:51:07.867 --> 00:51:10.833
And they all felt that this was

00:51:10.867 --> 00:51:14.733
the neutral ground
of all the Indians.

00:51:17.600 --> 00:51:18.767
Narrator: No one ever guessed

00:51:18.800 --> 00:51:20.433
there might be
a celestial connection

00:51:20.467 --> 00:51:23.367
between Burnt Hill
and the Great Falls.

00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:25.833
But the evidence
for ritualized astronomy

00:51:25.867 --> 00:51:28.000
like this summer solstice
alignment

00:51:28.033 --> 00:51:33.300
was first documented
by Mavor and Dix in the 1980s.

00:51:33.333 --> 00:51:40.233
- Jim Mavor and Byron Dix,
who wrote Manitou, came up here.

00:51:40.267 --> 00:51:44.667
They set up cameras
where this one\'s set up

00:51:44.700 --> 00:51:46.833
and lined up
and waited for the sunset,

00:51:46.867 --> 00:51:49.433
which was actually perfect
that evening.

00:51:49.467 --> 00:51:56.700
And everything lined up,
as we\'re seeing here,

00:51:56.733 --> 00:51:58.733
and they broke out
the champagne.

00:51:58.767 --> 00:52:01.033
Narrator: Another example
a little further along

00:52:01.067 --> 00:52:04.533
the ridge of Burnt Hill
is this unusual stone wall

00:52:04.567 --> 00:52:07.267
that has a window through it.

00:52:07.300 --> 00:52:10.067
Looking due west on the day
of the equinox,

00:52:10.100 --> 00:52:12.400
the sun sets
behind Mount Greylock,

00:52:12.433 --> 00:52:16.167
the next large mountain visible
on the western horizon.

00:52:20.500 --> 00:52:25.367
Are there other ceremonial sites
around the Great Falls?

00:52:25.400 --> 00:52:28.533
Near the airport,
at the base of the hill

00:52:28.567 --> 00:52:31.333
across the runway
from the stone row,

00:52:31.367 --> 00:52:34.100
a large upright stone
stands near the entrance

00:52:34.133 --> 00:52:37.233
to an old trail
leading up the hill.

00:52:37.267 --> 00:52:39.733
This area around the airport

00:52:39.767 --> 00:52:43.200
was known to 19th-century
antiquarian researchers

00:52:43.233 --> 00:52:45.867
as a place where they could
find Indian relics

00:52:45.900 --> 00:52:49.200
and stone carvings.

00:52:49.233 --> 00:52:51.000
In that same tradition,

00:52:51.033 --> 00:52:53.400
it is through the work
of the new antiquarians

00:52:53.433 --> 00:52:56.033
that the memories of
strange places in the landscape

00:52:56.067 --> 00:52:59.233
are still preserved.

00:52:59.267 --> 00:53:01.267
For example, Dry Hill,

00:53:01.300 --> 00:53:03.767
a high ridge southeast
of the airport,

00:53:03.800 --> 00:53:06.733
has been known
to local avocational researchers

00:53:06.767 --> 00:53:09.000
as another place
with several examples

00:53:09.033 --> 00:53:12.767
of unusual stone monuments.

00:53:12.800 --> 00:53:15.300
The antiquarian researchers
of today

00:53:15.333 --> 00:53:17.700
are an invaluable aid
to professionals

00:53:17.733 --> 00:53:19.733
when it comes to learning
about features

00:53:19.767 --> 00:53:22.967
that lie hidden in the hills
and the backwoods.

00:53:23.000 --> 00:53:27.300
- And I still don\'t know totally
what it is.

00:53:27.333 --> 00:53:28.300
When I come here,

00:53:28.333 --> 00:53:31.233
I have a feeling
of reverence and beauty.

00:53:31.267 --> 00:53:36.467
And I think admitting
that I don\'t know is helpful

00:53:36.500 --> 00:53:37.867
and just to appreciate the place

00:53:37.900 --> 00:53:40.633
and to say
what a marvelous place.

00:53:40.667 --> 00:53:43.833
I mean, who knows how long these
stones have been sitting here?

00:53:43.867 --> 00:53:47.333
There\'s no telling for me,
you know?

00:53:47.367 --> 00:53:48.767
- Here on Dry Hill,

00:53:48.800 --> 00:53:52.067
five miles out
from the prayer hill

00:53:52.100 --> 00:53:56.733
at Turner Falls Airport,

00:53:56.767 --> 00:54:00.400
is a phenomenal array
of different kinds

00:54:00.433 --> 00:54:04.733
of ceremonial stone structures.

00:54:04.767 --> 00:54:07.467
We\'ve seen stone piles.

00:54:07.500 --> 00:54:13.667
We\'ve seen a donation pile,

00:54:13.700 --> 00:54:21.167
and here we see what
on first glance is a stone wall.

00:54:21.200 --> 00:54:24.233
But it\'s a short wall
that goes nowhere.

00:54:24.267 --> 00:54:29.200
It begins, and it ends
at the end of a drop-off,

00:54:29.233 --> 00:54:34.633
and then begins again,
and then ends at this boulder.

00:54:34.667 --> 00:54:39.667
No function for a stone wall.

00:54:48.233 --> 00:54:51.600
- Grandmother was born
in this house,

00:54:51.633 --> 00:54:54.867
and her mother was born
in this house,

00:54:54.900 --> 00:55:02.900
and her mother\'s parents bought
this house from their uncle.

00:55:03.267 --> 00:55:06.967
My grandmother always
used to tell me the story

00:55:07.000 --> 00:55:10.967
of how up on the back road
there,

00:55:11.000 --> 00:55:13.867
there\'s a place
called the Indian Fort -

00:55:13.900 --> 00:55:17.367
and it\'s always referred
to as the Indian Fort -

00:55:17.400 --> 00:55:22.300
where the stone wall is
and the stone piles.

00:55:22.333 --> 00:55:27.567
And she always told about
when she was a little girl

00:55:27.600 --> 00:55:31.700
that a bunch
of the Native Americans

00:55:31.733 --> 00:55:34.700
were traveling
from east to west,

00:55:34.733 --> 00:55:38.833
and they stopped there
to camp out overnight.

00:55:38.867 --> 00:55:40.067
She left me with the impression

00:55:40.100 --> 00:55:42.633
that this was common
for them to stay there,

00:55:42.667 --> 00:55:48.300
because my grandmother
must have,

00:55:48.333 --> 00:55:49.600
through her relatives,

00:55:49.633 --> 00:55:53.967
known why that was called
the Indian Fort.

00:55:54.000 --> 00:55:55.633
She never explained to me
why that was.

00:55:55.667 --> 00:55:58.633
It\'s just, that\'s what it was
always referred to as.

00:55:59.833 --> 00:56:01.833
- But five miles out

00:56:01.867 --> 00:56:05.300
from the Turner Falls
prayer hill

00:56:05.333 --> 00:56:09.067
we have another
ceremonial landscape.

00:56:09.100 --> 00:56:12.200
And there are other
ceremonial landscapes

00:56:12.233 --> 00:56:17.033
that are part of the system

00:56:17.067 --> 00:56:21.900
that Turner Falls prayer hill
represents.

00:56:21.933 --> 00:56:25.633
Where are they?

00:56:25.667 --> 00:56:28.000
What\'s their function?

00:56:28.033 --> 00:56:30.633
Narrator: A group
of avocational researchers

00:56:30.667 --> 00:56:33.200
have combined
their fieldwork information

00:56:33.233 --> 00:56:36.000
to begin building
an electronic database.

00:56:36.033 --> 00:56:40.600
- Right now, I have 85 sites,

00:56:40.633 --> 00:56:45.700
the majority of which
are in the 25-mile radius

00:56:45.733 --> 00:56:49.667
around the Turners Falls
airport site.

00:56:49.700 --> 00:56:52.700
All of these sites

00:56:52.733 --> 00:57:00.733
are stone structures
that are unusual.

00:57:02.567 --> 00:57:06.433
There\'s no easy colonial
explanation

00:57:06.467 --> 00:57:09.433
for any of these sites.

00:57:09.467 --> 00:57:15.167
I probably came here
first in around \'64

00:57:15.200 --> 00:57:20.633
with a man named William Nagle.

00:57:20.667 --> 00:57:26.267
And at that time,
there were rocks on top of this,

00:57:26.300 --> 00:57:30.167
so the platform went out
more than -

00:57:30.200 --> 00:57:31.700
you know, at least double.

00:57:31.733 --> 00:57:34.633
And he said that when he
first came here -

00:57:34.667 --> 00:57:36.333
he was an old-timer then,

00:57:36.367 --> 00:57:39.300
and he said that
when he first came here,

00:57:39.333 --> 00:57:43.033
there was a stone on the top.

00:57:43.067 --> 00:57:49.267
- The antiquarian community
has for centuries

00:57:49.300 --> 00:57:52.367
been walking these same woods
that our ancestors

00:57:52.400 --> 00:57:55.233
did these ceremonies in

00:57:55.267 --> 00:57:58.967
both thousands and hundreds
of years ago.

00:57:59.000 --> 00:58:04.300
So collaboration is at the heart
of preservation

00:58:04.333 --> 00:58:06.800
of these ancient sites.

00:58:06.833 --> 00:58:10.200
- It\'s been really hard
in thinking about

00:58:10.233 --> 00:58:16.167
how to preserve these sites,
what\'s the best avenue to go.

00:58:16.200 --> 00:58:20.467
I\'ve been to England
where all of these sites

00:58:20.500 --> 00:58:26.400
are under the jurisdiction
of a national agency.

00:58:26.433 --> 00:58:28.500
And you can walk through
anybody\'s pasture

00:58:28.533 --> 00:58:30.200
as long as you close
the turnstile.

00:58:30.233 --> 00:58:33.667
And it works out well there,

00:58:33.700 --> 00:58:37.467
but there isn\'t anything
like that available here.

00:58:40.633 --> 00:58:42.100
Narrator:
Of all the random sites

00:58:42.133 --> 00:58:44.133
that have been entered
into the database,

00:58:44.167 --> 00:58:47.100
this may be one
of the more significant.

00:58:47.133 --> 00:58:49.633
The Bear\'s Den Chamber
is carefully built

00:58:49.667 --> 00:58:52.800
out of dry stones
with a single huge capstone

00:58:52.833 --> 00:58:55.900
placed over the entire space.

00:58:55.933 --> 00:58:58.833
If the site line
of the August 13th sunset

00:58:58.867 --> 00:59:02.333
over Burnt Hill is extended
back toward the east,

00:59:02.367 --> 00:59:05.700
it runs through the stone row
at the Turners Falls Airport

00:59:05.733 --> 00:59:09.267
and then continues
to the Bear\'s Den Chamber.

00:59:09.300 --> 00:59:12.367
- So how do we know whether
or not the Native Americans

00:59:12.400 --> 00:59:16.733
in southeastern New England
had astronomy?

00:59:16.767 --> 00:59:18.700
We don\'t have a lot
of information,

00:59:18.733 --> 00:59:22.067
but we have two solid sources
to make it clear.

00:59:22.100 --> 00:59:24.800
First was the explorer
Verrazano,

00:59:24.833 --> 00:59:27.700
1524, put in
at Narragansett Bay,

00:59:27.733 --> 00:59:29.167
met with the Indians.

00:59:29.200 --> 00:59:31.400
It was planting time.

00:59:31.433 --> 00:59:35.200
And they told him
when it was time to plant.

00:59:35.233 --> 00:59:36.767
They watched the phases
of the moon,

00:59:36.800 --> 00:59:41.233
and they waited for the Pleiades
to give them the time.

00:59:41.267 --> 00:59:42.733
So that\'s solid.

00:59:42.767 --> 00:59:47.000
And then 120 years later,
Roger Williams wrote

00:59:47.033 --> 00:59:50.867
in his book
on Native languages -

00:59:50.900 --> 00:59:53.833
this is in Rhode Island,
again, same place,

00:59:53.867 --> 00:59:55.267
Narragansett country -

00:59:55.300 --> 00:59:58.933
that every child knew
lots of constellations,

00:59:58.967 --> 01:00:01.667
because when you get down to it,

01:00:01.700 --> 01:00:05.200
it would be sort of preposterous

01:00:05.233 --> 01:00:08.800
to think that they wouldn\'t
have astronomy.

01:00:08.833 --> 01:00:11.367
They were on the open ocean
in canoes.

01:00:11.400 --> 01:00:15.500
They traveled fast
across country

01:00:15.533 --> 01:00:19.200
and must have had
a way of navigating.

01:00:19.233 --> 01:00:21.000
The fact that they knew
the Pleiades puts them

01:00:21.033 --> 01:00:24.067
right with every other
Native North American,

01:00:24.100 --> 01:00:25.900
Central American,
South American group,

01:00:25.933 --> 01:00:28.300
not to mention Europe and Asia.

01:00:28.333 --> 01:00:30.633
Narrator: It may be years
before the landscapes

01:00:30.667 --> 01:00:33.133
along the August 13th
sunset line

01:00:33.167 --> 01:00:36.933
can be explored
for other possible sites.

01:00:36.967 --> 01:00:38.567
But there are already clues

01:00:38.600 --> 01:00:42.000
that indicate
it might be worth looking.

01:00:42.033 --> 01:00:44.833
The line passes
directly over the Blue Hills

01:00:44.867 --> 01:00:46.500
of eastern Massachusetts.

01:00:46.533 --> 01:00:50.000
These are the highest elevations
around the Boston area,

01:00:50.033 --> 01:00:52.667
and navigators at sea
have always used the hills

01:00:52.700 --> 01:00:56.100
as a first sighting point
from the ocean.

01:00:56.133 --> 01:00:57.200
And by coincidence,

01:00:57.233 --> 01:00:59.200
one of the peaks
in the Blue Hill Range

01:00:59.233 --> 01:01:02.367
is also named Burnt Hill.

01:01:07.033 --> 01:01:10.233
Where the sunset line
crosses the arm of Cape Cod

01:01:10.267 --> 01:01:14.400
it passes over a place
called Indian Neck.

01:01:14.433 --> 01:01:17.600
In 1979, construction excavation

01:01:17.633 --> 01:01:21.433
revealed a Native burial site
from around 1100 A.D.

01:01:23.267 --> 01:01:25.500
The archaeologists
who worked on the site

01:01:25.533 --> 01:01:29.033
believed that it wasn\'t just
a local cemetery.

01:01:29.067 --> 01:01:31.400
The individuals interred
on Indian Neck

01:01:31.433 --> 01:01:34.133
included people
who may have died elsewhere

01:01:34.167 --> 01:01:36.200
and whose bones
were ritually prepared

01:01:36.233 --> 01:01:41.033
and then transported to be
buried in this particular place.

01:01:41.067 --> 01:01:43.267
- But more to the point,
from my way of thinking,

01:01:43.300 --> 01:01:45.667
is that it would be
equally preposterous

01:01:45.700 --> 01:01:50.000
if they didn\'t share
in a cosmological vision

01:01:50.033 --> 01:01:53.733
of how time moves
and what the significance

01:01:53.767 --> 01:01:56.867
of the relationship between
sky and earth actually is.

01:01:56.900 --> 01:01:58.600
And Roger Williams, again,
was the one

01:01:58.633 --> 01:02:02.367
who salvaged this
from oblivion as being one -

01:02:02.400 --> 01:02:06.233
almost the only person
in early colonial times

01:02:06.267 --> 01:02:07.400
that had an interest.

01:02:07.433 --> 01:02:10.667
And he reports that the land
of the ancestors

01:02:10.700 --> 01:02:13.633
is in the southwest.

01:02:13.667 --> 01:02:16.333
And at the entrance
to the land of the dead

01:02:16.367 --> 01:02:20.600
is the house of the Creator,
Kautantowit.

01:02:20.633 --> 01:02:24.400
Now, this is a thought form
that is found

01:02:24.433 --> 01:02:28.100
all over the Americas
and elsewhere.

01:02:28.133 --> 01:02:29.533
And the key to understanding it

01:02:29.567 --> 01:02:33.133
is where the entrance
in the sky is.

01:02:33.167 --> 01:02:37.833
And it\'s a question not of just
where it is but when it is.

01:02:37.867 --> 01:02:41.800
It\'s a very coherent cosmology.

01:02:41.833 --> 01:02:45.333
It\'s very beautiful and moving.

01:02:45.367 --> 01:02:48.267
And the idea that somehow

01:02:48.300 --> 01:02:52.133
that the Native Americans
in New England

01:02:52.167 --> 01:02:56.900
would be bereft of participation
in this tradition is -

01:02:56.933 --> 01:02:59.833
well, it\'s just not on.

01:02:59.867 --> 01:03:02.233
It\'s not a proper way
to think about things.

01:03:08.400 --> 01:03:11.000
Narrator: James Mavor,
who worked as a scientist

01:03:11.033 --> 01:03:13.500
for the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute,

01:03:13.533 --> 01:03:16.367
was one of the pioneer
researchers who first began

01:03:16.400 --> 01:03:18.533
to recognize Native astronomy

01:03:18.567 --> 01:03:21.867
connected to ceremonial
landscaping in the northeast.

01:03:25.267 --> 01:03:29.533
- Christianized Indians
lived here

01:03:29.567 --> 01:03:34.000
probably in the 1700s,

01:03:34.033 --> 01:03:40.367
and we know that most of the
Christianized Indians were...

01:03:40.400 --> 01:03:47.433
not entirely Christian
in their habits.

01:03:47.467 --> 01:03:51.800
They held onto
their ancient beliefs as well.

01:03:54.900 --> 01:03:58.333
The people at sea needed
to know where they were,

01:03:58.367 --> 01:04:01.067
and they needed to know
directions,

01:04:01.100 --> 01:04:05.400
and they used the position of
the celestial bodies to do this.

01:04:05.433 --> 01:04:11.233
And the reference directions

01:04:11.267 --> 01:04:13.667
are set on land.

01:04:13.700 --> 01:04:16.933
I believe this is a place

01:04:16.967 --> 01:04:21.100
where aboriginal people

01:04:21.133 --> 01:04:25.400
watched the sun setting
at the summer solstice.

01:04:25.433 --> 01:04:28.600
And the reason I think this
is because as I stand here,

01:04:28.633 --> 01:04:35.767
I see on the far ridge
a large pointed standing stone.

01:04:35.800 --> 01:04:39.967
The horizon marker
is a triangular pointed stone,

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:44.100
which is actually nine feet high
on the top of the ridge

01:04:44.133 --> 01:04:47.367
which we see,
which is about half a mile away.

01:04:47.400 --> 01:04:50.233
It is the only stone
that projects above

01:04:50.267 --> 01:04:53.800
a generally undulating horizon

01:04:53.833 --> 01:04:57.400
without other significant
markers on it.

01:04:57.433 --> 01:05:03.467
And I witnessed
a summer solstice sunset event.

01:05:03.500 --> 01:05:05.600
And the sun, as it sets,

01:05:05.633 --> 01:05:10.233
just touches
the top of the stone

01:05:10.267 --> 01:05:11.833
as it goes by.

01:05:11.867 --> 01:05:15.300
This is the place
where you watch this event.

01:05:15.333 --> 01:05:19.667
What we don\'t know for sure
is who built it or when,

01:05:19.700 --> 01:05:23.067
but I think we have
a pretty good reason why.

01:05:26.233 --> 01:05:34.167
The shrine, I call it,
is on the side of a mound

01:05:34.200 --> 01:05:37.833
in the marsh
which may be natural or not.

01:05:37.867 --> 01:05:39.567
We don\'t know.

01:05:39.600 --> 01:05:45.333
The equinox sunrise,
which is essentially due east,

01:05:45.367 --> 01:05:49.033
occurs over a point, a peak,

01:05:49.067 --> 01:05:52.200
above a bluff
on the adjacent island

01:05:52.233 --> 01:05:55.333
about two miles away.

01:05:55.367 --> 01:05:58.067
It\'s quite precise.

01:05:58.100 --> 01:06:03.233
The lower limb of the sun
sits on the peak

01:06:03.267 --> 01:06:08.933
at sunrise on the day
of the equinox.

01:06:08.967 --> 01:06:11.033
It was probably a tradition
that went back

01:06:11.067 --> 01:06:12.567
a very, very long time.

01:06:12.600 --> 01:06:14.100
Even though this structure

01:06:14.133 --> 01:06:16.933
may be only hundreds
of years old,

01:06:16.967 --> 01:06:20.600
it\'s a tradition that is
many thousands of years old.

01:06:20.633 --> 01:06:26.300
But this ring has been a place
that has not been disturbed,

01:06:26.333 --> 01:06:34.333
and it probably epitomizes
this type of place,

01:06:35.067 --> 01:06:39.067
the ritualizing of a landscape
by its relationship

01:06:39.100 --> 01:06:42.167
to the natural world around it

01:06:42.200 --> 01:06:47.800
and the sky,
the celestial events.

01:06:47.833 --> 01:06:49.800
In that way,
it is a special place,

01:06:49.833 --> 01:06:53.967
and it makes us, I think,
think of both

01:06:54.000 --> 01:06:58.033
its ritual aspects
and its practical aspects,

01:06:58.067 --> 01:07:01.333
because the astronomy
was certainly related

01:07:01.367 --> 01:07:04.300
to people\'s use of the sea.

01:07:10.400 --> 01:07:13.000
Narrator: Byron Dix,
who, in his professional life,

01:07:13.033 --> 01:07:14.700
was a rocket scientist,

01:07:14.733 --> 01:07:19.000
began working with Mavor
in the mid-1970s.

01:07:19.033 --> 01:07:21.267
They documented
landscape designs

01:07:21.300 --> 01:07:22.867
all over New England,

01:07:22.900 --> 01:07:24.033
but they were probably

01:07:24.067 --> 01:07:25.833
the first antiquarian
researchers

01:07:25.867 --> 01:07:28.633
to begin recognizing
Native stone monuments

01:07:28.667 --> 01:07:31.067
in the Assawompset drainage.

01:07:34.000 --> 01:07:35.567
The Wapanucket burial site

01:07:35.600 --> 01:07:37.300
may be the oldest Native ritual

01:07:37.333 --> 01:07:39.433
location discovered so far

01:07:39.467 --> 01:07:42.167
in southern New England.

01:07:42.200 --> 01:07:44.700
Burials with red ochre
or iron oxide

01:07:44.733 --> 01:07:48.767
that were found under the floors
of spiral shaped structures

01:07:48.800 --> 01:07:50.633
were radiocarbon-dated

01:07:50.667 --> 01:07:55.533
to between 9,000
and 10,000 years ago.

01:07:55.567 --> 01:07:57.300
This ceremonial tradition,

01:07:57.333 --> 01:07:59.367
found all over
the Western Hemisphere

01:07:59.400 --> 01:08:01.867
but concentrated
in the Northeast,

01:08:01.900 --> 01:08:04.767
is what the American
antiquarians once referred to

01:08:04.800 --> 01:08:07.233
as the Lost Red Paint People.

01:08:09.100 --> 01:08:11.600
The Assawompset region
is significant,

01:08:11.633 --> 01:08:13.867
because archaeologists recognize

01:08:13.900 --> 01:08:16.733
that the Native ceremonial
connection to the landscape

01:08:16.767 --> 01:08:19.800
around this water system
has been continuous

01:08:19.833 --> 01:08:22.833
from the Ice Age through
the Archaic and Woodland periods

01:08:22.867 --> 01:08:26.200
and into modern times.

01:08:26.233 --> 01:08:28.700
This is
the Royal Wampanoag Cemetery

01:08:28.733 --> 01:08:32.500
from the colonial period,
still being honored.

01:08:37.367 --> 01:08:41.267
Tispaquin, the last sachem
landowner of the region,

01:08:41.300 --> 01:08:45.100
tried to hold on to the tracts
closest to Assawompset

01:08:45.133 --> 01:08:47.300
when he was forced
to sell Native land rights

01:08:47.333 --> 01:08:49.133
to the English.

01:08:49.167 --> 01:08:52.133
The last piece of real estate
the Indians gave up

01:08:52.167 --> 01:08:56.033
was the eastern point
of Betty\'s Neck.

01:08:56.067 --> 01:09:01.300
Betty\'s Neck was the tribes\'
ceremonial dance ground.

01:09:01.333 --> 01:09:04.933
The topo map shows a small,
flat-topped mound

01:09:04.967 --> 01:09:08.900
that rises at the southeastern
end of the neck.

01:09:08.933 --> 01:09:10.167
From this platform,

01:09:10.200 --> 01:09:12.833
the summer solstice sunset
could be viewed

01:09:12.867 --> 01:09:15.300
around June 21st
in the direction

01:09:15.333 --> 01:09:19.067
of approximately
303 degrees northwest.

01:09:21.367 --> 01:09:23.967
There are oral history accounts
in New England

01:09:24.000 --> 01:09:25.933
of Native people swimming
in the line

01:09:25.967 --> 01:09:28.900
of reflected sunlight
on the water.

01:09:28.933 --> 01:09:32.033
Let\'s follow the direction
of this solstice sunset line

01:09:32.067 --> 01:09:33.967
across the landscape.

01:09:34.000 --> 01:09:36.367
As it proceeds northwest,

01:09:36.400 --> 01:09:38.667
the line crosses locations
on the map

01:09:38.700 --> 01:09:40.500
named for their Native history.

01:09:40.533 --> 01:09:43.467
It goes over a place
known as Wampum Corner,

01:09:43.500 --> 01:09:46.000
and then it crosses
near a pond and stream

01:09:46.033 --> 01:09:47.667
named after Chief Uncas,

01:09:47.700 --> 01:09:52.067
a Mohegan leader
from northeastern Connecticut.

01:09:52.100 --> 01:09:53.900
Near Franklin, Massachusetts,

01:09:53.933 --> 01:09:56.900
the solstice line passes over
a large wetland

01:09:56.933 --> 01:09:59.933
that feeds into the headwaters
of the Charles River.

01:10:02.633 --> 01:10:04.667
One of the more radical
suggestions

01:10:04.700 --> 01:10:08.033
made by Mavor and Dix
was that indigenous cultures

01:10:08.067 --> 01:10:10.533
may have shaped
local water systems,

01:10:10.567 --> 01:10:12.800
creating ceremonial waterscapes

01:10:12.833 --> 01:10:17.033
that formed another element
in their ritualized environment.

01:10:17.067 --> 01:10:18.967
In the wetlands near Franklin,

01:10:19.000 --> 01:10:22.200
Mavor and Dix discovered
a series of stone rows

01:10:22.233 --> 01:10:25.567
built out of huge boulders.

01:10:25.600 --> 01:10:26.700
A few of the boulders

01:10:26.733 --> 01:10:29.167
are stacked on top
of one another.

01:10:29.200 --> 01:10:32.000
The monoliths are assembled
into straight lines,

01:10:32.033 --> 01:10:34.933
some of which connect
to ponds in the marshland.

01:10:41.400 --> 01:10:42.733
As we continue to follow

01:10:42.767 --> 01:10:45.233
the sunset line
to the northwest,

01:10:45.267 --> 01:10:47.067
we come to Upton, Massachusetts,

01:10:47.100 --> 01:10:50.600
where it passes through
the Upton Chamber.

01:10:50.633 --> 01:10:52.767
The Upton Chamber
has long been a part

01:10:52.800 --> 01:10:55.200
of the New England
stone controversy

01:10:55.233 --> 01:10:58.367
since it was first documented
by the pioneering photographer

01:10:58.400 --> 01:11:01.367
Malcolm Pearson in the 1930s.

01:11:03.533 --> 01:11:05.833
The amateur historian
William Goodwin

01:11:05.867 --> 01:11:08.900
believed that the closest
architectural comparisons

01:11:08.933 --> 01:11:11.833
to the eastern stone ruins
could be found among

01:11:11.867 --> 01:11:14.500
the early Christian
pagan stoneworks

01:11:14.533 --> 01:11:19.133
built along the far
western coasts of Ireland.

01:11:19.167 --> 01:11:22.133
- Goodwin seemed to put together
the idea

01:11:22.167 --> 01:11:28.333
that the monks in Ireland
had made that trip.

01:11:28.367 --> 01:11:31.100
So from that,
the base of that information,

01:11:31.133 --> 01:11:35.233
I believe that Goodwin
did finally settle on the fact

01:11:35.267 --> 01:11:38.233
that he believed
that the Irish monks

01:11:38.267 --> 01:11:41.500
really did build the place.

01:11:41.533 --> 01:11:43.267
Narrator: Goodwin suggested
that the monks

01:11:43.300 --> 01:11:44.733
fled the coasts of Ireland

01:11:44.767 --> 01:11:49.600
to escape the Viking raiders
around 800 A.D.

01:11:49.633 --> 01:11:51.433
He thought the site
might even go back

01:11:51.467 --> 01:11:54.067
to the legendary voyages
of St. Brendan,

01:11:54.100 --> 01:11:56.067
the hero of the Irish sagas,

01:11:56.100 --> 01:11:58.533
who discovered new land
when he and his monks

01:11:58.567 --> 01:12:02.733
sailed west across the Atlantic
in their skin boats.

01:12:02.767 --> 01:12:05.067
But the skin boat was not just

01:12:05.100 --> 01:12:08.633
a technological invention
of the Irish.

01:12:08.667 --> 01:12:10.967
Today scientists understand

01:12:11.000 --> 01:12:13.267
that all around
the circumpolar globe,

01:12:13.300 --> 01:12:15.933
including eastern North America,

01:12:15.967 --> 01:12:19.667
humans developed sea craft
and navigational techniques

01:12:19.700 --> 01:12:22.300
that allowed them
to travel long distances

01:12:22.333 --> 01:12:24.767
through the harsh
northern ocean environment

01:12:24.800 --> 01:12:27.033
going back to the Ice Age.

01:12:29.333 --> 01:12:31.767
The idea
of the advanced Europeans

01:12:31.800 --> 01:12:35.233
being the only races who could
diffuse their cultural knowledge

01:12:35.267 --> 01:12:39.400
across an ocean
is no longer accurate.

01:12:43.767 --> 01:12:47.633
If we continue to follow
the line of 303 degrees,

01:12:47.667 --> 01:12:51.600
we come back
to the Bear\'s Den Chamber.

01:12:51.633 --> 01:12:53.967
The chamber sits at the point
where the line

01:12:54.000 --> 01:12:57.067
of the summer solstice sunset
crosses the line

01:12:57.100 --> 01:13:00.133
of the August 13th
Perseid sunset.

01:13:00.167 --> 01:13:02.533
The placement of this structure

01:13:02.567 --> 01:13:05.600
seems to lock two important
astronomical dates

01:13:05.633 --> 01:13:07.533
into the Native landscape

01:13:07.567 --> 01:13:10.067
and suggests
that the lines might be more

01:13:10.100 --> 01:13:11.767
than just a coincidence.

01:13:15.067 --> 01:13:18.000
Beyond the Bear\'s Den Chamber,
the solstice line

01:13:18.033 --> 01:13:20.933
continues to the northwest
across Vermont,

01:13:20.967 --> 01:13:23.167
where the sun sets
behind a ridge of mountains

01:13:23.200 --> 01:13:25.233
known as Glastenbury.

01:13:27.033 --> 01:13:30.100
According to the white
oral history from the region,

01:13:30.133 --> 01:13:32.467
Glastenbury was
a Native sacred site

01:13:32.500 --> 01:13:35.567
where people would vanish.

01:13:35.600 --> 01:13:37.867
There was said to be
a stone on the mountain

01:13:37.900 --> 01:13:42.067
that people would step on
and disappear.

01:13:42.100 --> 01:13:45.433
There are stone monuments
on Glastenbury Mountain,

01:13:45.467 --> 01:13:48.633
and today top professionals
from multiple disciplines

01:13:48.667 --> 01:13:52.333
are beginning to look at them
from a different perspective.

01:13:52.367 --> 01:13:55.600
- All the other sites in Vermont
and elsewhere in New England

01:13:55.633 --> 01:13:58.700
have all these
well-constructed cairns.

01:13:58.733 --> 01:14:03.667
They\'re always close by
or on farmed land.

01:14:03.700 --> 01:14:05.600
But the ones
that we\'re going to,

01:14:05.633 --> 01:14:07.733
I mean, they\'re near the summit
of this mountain.

01:14:07.767 --> 01:14:11.600
And so that particular answer
really doesn\'t work up here.

01:14:11.633 --> 01:14:13.467
And the only way
I can think of them,

01:14:13.500 --> 01:14:16.300
or the only answer
that I\'ve had before

01:14:16.333 --> 01:14:18.133
is the fact that,
well, maybe they were built

01:14:18.167 --> 01:14:20.600
by the people who built
the fire tower.

01:14:20.633 --> 01:14:23.933
But then you have to ask
yourself, well, for what reason?

01:14:23.967 --> 01:14:25.700
And Tom will have
a better idea of that

01:14:25.733 --> 01:14:30.333
when he begins to study
the type of vegetation,

01:14:30.367 --> 01:14:31.833
the type of moss on it.

01:14:31.867 --> 01:14:34.933
- Yeah, I\'d say this is probably
the first shelter on the A.T.

01:14:34.967 --> 01:14:36.900
on Glastenbury Mountain.

01:14:36.933 --> 01:14:38.600
There\'s remnants
of the old wood stove

01:14:38.633 --> 01:14:39.967
that would have been in it.

01:14:40.000 --> 01:14:43.500
But the key is
the foundation stone -

01:14:43.533 --> 01:14:47.233
which I\'m guessing has been set
up there at least 75 years -

01:14:47.267 --> 01:14:49.367
has no moss on it.

01:14:49.400 --> 01:14:51.033
Only on the mortar
is there any moss.

01:14:51.067 --> 01:14:53.100
Now I want to go back down
and look at these other rocks

01:14:53.133 --> 01:14:54.233
and see if the side stones -

01:14:54.267 --> 01:14:55.633
not the top
but the side stones -

01:14:55.667 --> 01:14:57.567
have moss growth,
because if they do,

01:14:57.600 --> 01:15:00.333
then this means
those stone structures

01:15:00.367 --> 01:15:05.467
are, you know, way, way older
than just 75 years.

01:15:05.500 --> 01:15:07.933
We can see that, you know,
we have a lot of moss on top.

01:15:07.967 --> 01:15:10.833
But the key here is that
we\'re getting moss growth,

01:15:10.867 --> 01:15:13.033
I mean, carpets like that,

01:15:13.067 --> 01:15:17.567
on all these surfaces
of the rock vertically,

01:15:17.600 --> 01:15:21.033
which that foundation had
no moss growth on.

01:15:21.067 --> 01:15:23.033
And these rocks
are pretty much coated in it.

01:15:23.067 --> 01:15:26.733
So obviously these
way predate the shelter.

01:15:26.767 --> 01:15:28.000
- Down here.

01:15:28.033 --> 01:15:29.933
- There was never
any agricultural activity

01:15:29.967 --> 01:15:31.300
of any sort.

01:15:31.333 --> 01:15:33.133
We had pillows and cradles
all over the ground,

01:15:33.167 --> 01:15:34.233
so it\'s never been plowed.

01:15:34.267 --> 01:15:37.033
Too high for pasturing.

01:15:37.067 --> 01:15:39.433
Now, these have nothing to do
with agricultural activity,

01:15:39.467 --> 01:15:42.500
nor with the shelter,
nor with the fire tower.

01:15:42.533 --> 01:15:43.933
There was no logging up here,

01:15:43.967 --> 01:15:46.467
so who\'s up here
building these things?

01:15:46.500 --> 01:15:48.100
- Right.

01:15:48.133 --> 01:15:49.233
And why?

01:15:51.700 --> 01:15:54.100
Narrator: If we follow
the solstice sunset line

01:15:54.133 --> 01:15:55.500
one more time,

01:15:55.533 --> 01:15:58.667
it extends to the headwaters
of the St. Lawrence River

01:15:58.700 --> 01:16:01.533
and crosses the Fort Drum
military installation

01:16:01.567 --> 01:16:03.500
in upstate New York.

01:16:07.867 --> 01:16:09.533
- As you step off the turf,

01:16:09.567 --> 01:16:12.300
you are pretty much
entering the site,

01:16:12.333 --> 01:16:13.633
and beyond those signs,

01:16:13.667 --> 01:16:16.833
you cannot buy a rock
on this landform,

01:16:16.867 --> 01:16:20.300
not big ones, not little ones,
not pebbles, not boulders.

01:16:20.333 --> 01:16:23.500
But as we step off the turf
and into the open area

01:16:23.533 --> 01:16:25.300
here in this blowout,

01:16:25.333 --> 01:16:29.800
we are entering
a 300x400-meter lithic scatter.

01:16:29.833 --> 01:16:31.400
There\'s stone tool debris -

01:16:31.433 --> 01:16:34.300
or was before our crew collected
a good deal of it -

01:16:34.333 --> 01:16:36.967
scattered throughout
this entire open area.

01:16:37.000 --> 01:16:41.933
We found over 400 concentrations
of fire-cracked rock.

01:16:41.967 --> 01:16:45.267
When we bring
the Native American elders here,

01:16:45.300 --> 01:16:47.700
this landscape is familiar
to them,

01:16:47.733 --> 01:16:50.800
because this is what remains
of sweat lodges look like.

01:16:50.833 --> 01:16:52.833
So, for example,
one of the Mohawk elders

01:16:52.867 --> 01:16:55.367
was able to just glance
and say, \"Oh, yes.

01:16:55.400 --> 01:16:57.367
This is where the lodges were.\"

01:16:57.400 --> 01:17:03.967
These two stones are
due north-south magnetically.

01:17:04.000 --> 01:17:06.900
As we began to map
and understand the site,

01:17:06.933 --> 01:17:09.433
the most dramatic
of the alignments

01:17:09.467 --> 01:17:12.700
is the 60 degrees off of north,

01:17:12.733 --> 01:17:14.367
and this becomes

01:17:14.400 --> 01:17:17.267
the end point of this alignment.

01:17:17.300 --> 01:17:19.700
And if you start to look through

01:17:19.733 --> 01:17:22.967
from where I\'m standing,
you\'ll see a pair of stones,

01:17:23.000 --> 01:17:24.867
and then a further pair
of stones.

01:17:24.900 --> 01:17:27.800
And then you\'ll see
in the distance

01:17:27.833 --> 01:17:30.100
between the trees another pair

01:17:30.133 --> 01:17:32.733
and then a boulder
at the very end.

01:17:32.767 --> 01:17:34.533
And this lines up
with the sunrise

01:17:34.567 --> 01:17:37.600
at the summer solstice.

01:17:37.633 --> 01:17:41.333
The second alignment is
if you place yourself

01:17:41.367 --> 01:17:44.767
precisely at the midpoint
between these two stones.

01:17:44.800 --> 01:17:46.900
And you use that pair,

01:17:46.933 --> 01:17:50.867
and the notch,
it will lead you off

01:17:50.900 --> 01:17:55.167
to another boulder
that has a split pair

01:17:55.200 --> 01:17:56.533
in front of it.

01:17:56.567 --> 01:18:01.067
And that lines up
with the sunrise at the equinox.

01:18:01.100 --> 01:18:05.167
It was at that point
that we asked Dr. Anthony Aveni,

01:18:05.200 --> 01:18:07.900
Russell Colgate Professor
of Archaeoastronomy,

01:18:07.933 --> 01:18:12.500
to come and advise us
on this site.

01:18:12.533 --> 01:18:14.533
Narrator: Dr. Aveni
is considered to be one

01:18:14.567 --> 01:18:16.033
of the foremost
archaeoastronomers

01:18:16.067 --> 01:18:17.467
in North America.

01:18:17.500 --> 01:18:19.400
His books have been seminal
to the study

01:18:19.433 --> 01:18:22.567
of cultural astronomy
all around the globe.

01:18:22.600 --> 01:18:25.767
But the ancient northeast
hasn\'t been included.

01:18:25.800 --> 01:18:27.767
- Well, initially,
Dr. Aveni came out,

01:18:27.800 --> 01:18:30.533
and he explained to us
that he figured

01:18:30.567 --> 01:18:32.933
we must not be
complete crackpots,

01:18:32.967 --> 01:18:34.833
because we worked for the Army,

01:18:34.867 --> 01:18:36.700
and that it was
his patriotic duty

01:18:36.733 --> 01:18:38.967
to come and debunk this site
so that the soldiers

01:18:39.000 --> 01:18:41.100
could return to training here.

01:18:41.133 --> 01:18:42.733
So we brought him to the site.

01:18:42.767 --> 01:18:45.267
He was initially interested
in the site

01:18:45.300 --> 01:18:48.900
because of the fact that it was
a huge lithic scatter,

01:18:48.933 --> 01:18:52.000
but in terms of the potential
celestial attributes,

01:18:52.033 --> 01:18:54.967
Dr. Aveni
was extremely skeptical.

01:18:55.000 --> 01:18:58.767
He began to waver when he came
to this central area,

01:18:58.800 --> 01:19:01.700
but then he really
became convinced

01:19:01.733 --> 01:19:04.000
as we pointed out
the paired stones.

01:19:04.033 --> 01:19:05.833
So once he saw pairs,

01:19:05.867 --> 01:19:10.100
then he became
much more convinced.

01:19:10.133 --> 01:19:12.867
Narrator: No one knows
when the astronomical site

01:19:12.900 --> 01:19:14.400
was first laid out,

01:19:14.433 --> 01:19:16.333
but it sits on one of the oldest

01:19:16.367 --> 01:19:18.867
and most unique
archaeological landscapes

01:19:18.900 --> 01:19:21.133
in eastern North America.

01:19:21.167 --> 01:19:24.733
Between 11,000
and 12,000 years ago,

01:19:24.767 --> 01:19:29.233
Fort Drum sat at the edge
of a huge inland saltwater sea

01:19:29.267 --> 01:19:32.133
that was filled with whales,
walrus, and seal

01:19:32.167 --> 01:19:35.400
and was connected directly
to the North Atlantic.

01:19:39.033 --> 01:19:41.367
Dr. Rush
and her research teams

01:19:41.400 --> 01:19:43.833
have been exploring
the ancient beach terraces

01:19:43.867 --> 01:19:45.267
that now run through the middle

01:19:45.300 --> 01:19:47.167
of the Fort Drum
training ground.

01:19:47.200 --> 01:19:49.433
And they have made
an astounding discovery

01:19:49.467 --> 01:19:52.367
that is changing our vision
of the Ice Age American.

01:19:55.667 --> 01:19:59.367
Archaeological evidence found
along the ancient shoreline

01:19:59.400 --> 01:20:02.433
indicates that there was
a significant population

01:20:02.467 --> 01:20:05.400
of Paleo-Indians focused
at the water\'s edge

01:20:05.433 --> 01:20:09.667
around 12,000 years ago.

01:20:09.700 --> 01:20:13.233
As the shoreline receded
over the next thousand years,

01:20:13.267 --> 01:20:16.367
these people kept adapting
to a maritime way of life

01:20:16.400 --> 01:20:19.433
that exploited
the coastal resources.

01:20:19.467 --> 01:20:21.867
- So this is
our Glacial Lake Iroquois

01:20:21.900 --> 01:20:24.700
11,200 years ago.

01:20:24.733 --> 01:20:25.967
And we have our shoreline.

01:20:26.000 --> 01:20:28.233
And you can see
there\'s a series of sites

01:20:28.267 --> 01:20:32.900
that occur adjacent
to the shoreline

01:20:32.933 --> 01:20:36.433
all through the southern portion
of the installation.

01:20:36.467 --> 01:20:38.867
Narrator: The old model
of Ice Age hunters

01:20:38.900 --> 01:20:43.267
who walked across North America
stalking their prey on foot

01:20:43.300 --> 01:20:46.733
now has to be expanded to
include a more sophisticated

01:20:46.767 --> 01:20:49.667
eastern Native culture
that developed seacraft,

01:20:49.700 --> 01:20:53.100
astronomy,
and the art of navigation.

01:20:53.133 --> 01:20:56.633
- If we\'re thinking about early
northeastern maritime culture,

01:20:56.667 --> 01:21:00.300
celestial navigation
is absolutely critical.

01:21:03.867 --> 01:21:05.667
Narrator: Who were
the ancient sea peoples

01:21:05.700 --> 01:21:08.933
who once lived along
this coastline?

01:21:08.967 --> 01:21:11.433
Are we suddenly back
to the American dream

01:21:11.467 --> 01:21:13.633
of lost races?

01:21:16.400 --> 01:21:20.733
The legacy of this sophisticated
and unrecognized early culture

01:21:20.767 --> 01:21:24.033
has been the blind spot
in eastern Native history.

01:21:24.067 --> 01:21:26.200
It is a missing piece
of the puzzle

01:21:26.233 --> 01:21:27.333
that has remained hidden

01:21:27.367 --> 01:21:29.233
underneath
the bitter controversy

01:21:29.267 --> 01:21:31.867
over the mysterious stone ruins.

01:21:31.900 --> 01:21:34.167
As it emerges, the discovery

01:21:34.200 --> 01:21:36.133
of the paleo maritime
civilization

01:21:36.167 --> 01:21:38.000
of Atlantic North America

01:21:38.033 --> 01:21:41.100
will have a radical effect
on our vision of history.