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FINDING COMMON GROUND

Texas Archeological Society Offers Native Americans Scholarships for Annual Field Schools

TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION The Medallion, Vol. 42, No. 3-4, March-April 2005, p. 10

By Molly Gardner of the THC’s Archeology Division

Dewey Tsonetokoy, Sr., a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, was pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome he received at a recent field school sponsored by the Texas Archeological Society (TAS).

“People were so friendly, they just kept coming up and introducing themselves.  I couldn’t keep track of them all — there were just so many hospitable people,” said Tsonetokoy, a participant in the Native American Field School Scholarship Program, a new TAS initiative.

Every summer since 1962, the statewide society of professional and avocational archeologists has organized a field school where participants learn the skills required to find and properly excavate archeological sites and process artifacts in a field laboratory.

Although the field schools are usually conducted at prehistoric Indian sites, Native Americans have rarely attended.  This was partly because of the often strained relationship between indigenous peoples, who want to protect and honor the places associated with Native Americans, and archeologists, whose priorities are to investigate those sites and add to the body of knowledge about earlier cultures.  The controversy over these issues has been ongoing for decades.

The TAS recently decided to do something about the situation.

“Everybody, both groups, wanted to have better relations,” explained archeologist Margaret Howard, former TAS president.  “We wanted to spend time side by side rather than face to face.”

Howard developed the idea for the scholarship program, and the TAS board of directors enthusiastically approved it.  Individuals and organizations contributed money for the scholarships, which included TAS membership, registration fees, an excavation tool kit, two meals a day and $100 for transportation.

Howard developed the idea for the scholarship program, and the TAS board of directors enthusiastically approved it. Individuals and organizations contributed money for the scholarships, which included TAS membership, registration fees, an excavation tool kit, two meals a day and $100 for transportation.

Five individuals from three native groups accepted the invitation in 2003, and six people from four groups accepted in 2004.  Caddos, Comanches, Kiowas, Lipan Apaches and Tap Pilam-Coahuiltecans were represented.

According to Howard, the scholarship program benefits the Native Americans and the TAS.  While the scholarship recipients learned archeological skills, “a number of the predominantly Anglo TAS field school participants had their first opportunity to converse one-on-one with Indian people,” Howard noted.

Besides working shoulder to shoulder with the Anglos in the excavation pits, the Native American participants also presented educational programs.  One night, Tsonetokoy, the great-greatgrandson of the legendary Kiowa leader Dohäsan, spoke to the assembled group about his 25-year effort to identify and record historic Kiowa sites and migration patterns.  Several Native Americans brought family members, and some of the children were even persuaded to sing their traditional songs at evening campfires.

“If people see an actual family with ties to the site they are excavating, they appreciate it more.  It is more meaningful, more profound,” Tsonetokoy said.

Father-son team Jesús Reyes, Jr. and 9-year-old Julian Reyes of the Tap Pilam-Coahuiltecan Nation also attended the 2003 field school thanks to TAS scholarships.  Jesús Reyes is now an anthropology major at the University of Texas at San Antonio, studying the language of his ancestors.

This summer, the TAS field school will move to a different location — but the new objective of inviting Native Americans will continue, increasing intercultural understanding little by little.  Or possibly more than a little, at least in Texas.

“You know, Kiowas historically hated Texans with a passion,” Tsonetokoy said.  “But this field school illustrates that people who detested each other can come together to preserve the good things about our shared history, the things that help us all define who we are.”

The Texas Archeological Society Native American Field School Scholarship Program is supported entirely by donations.  If you would like to contribute, please contact TAS by phone (800/377-7240), fax (210/458-4870) or email (tasinquiries@txarch.org), or write to:

Texas Archeological Society
Center for Archaeological Research
The University of Texas at San Antonio
One UTSA Circle, San Antonio, TX 78249-0658.

Each summer, students age 7 to 97 enjoy learning about Texas’ past at the TAS field school.

A truly multicultural group dug this unit. Auburn Gonzales (Tap Pilam-Coahuiltecan Nation) is center in the white shirt	Dewey Tsonetokoy, Sr. represented the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma at the TAS field school
Jacob Palmer of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma (right) excavating his unit	Kandyse Gilmore, the 2004 Kiowa Tribal Princess and great-neice of Dewey Tsonetokoy, Sr.

Savannah Collier (left) of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma

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