Indians Studying New Archaeology Methods

Indians don’t like to dig up artifacts and human remains, even if they have archaeological value.

Under an experimental program, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes have received a $300,000 grant from the Department of Energy to study ways to learn about the past without disturbing it.

“The way that tribal people feel is that the collection of material is violating traditional values,” said Diana Yupe, archaeologist for the tribes. “All of the cultural material was left in its place for a reason.”

Yupe and Cultural Resources Consultant John Furniss will use the grant to guide six students this summer.

“We wanted to come up with a more defined idea of how Indian people can do more archaeology without doing extensive excavation,” Yupe said. “We want to train tribal people to be more active in archeology, but under the limits of our traditional values.”

Methods of non-intrusively collecting data include the new technology of digitalization. Information is gathered from the artifact by scanning it. That information is then fed into a computer without removing the object from its site.