Publication: Post-Colonial Perspectives in Archaeology
Author: Robert H. Brunswig, Sally McBeth, & Louise Elinoff
Date of Publication: 2010
PDF File: Brunswig-et-al.-RE-ENFRANCHISING-NATIVE-PEOPLES-IN-THE-SOUTHERN-RO.pdf
Description
For the past decade, the University of Northern Colorado has conducted extensive archaeological research on federally-managed lands in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains. An important element of those investigations has been identification of physical and ethnographic evidence of historically-documented tribes removed from the region in the late 19th century. Not only have tribal affiliated camp and hunting sites been successfully located, but so have sites and associated features related to Native American rituals and sacred ceremonies, many now believed to extend into later prehistoric times. Native groups, particularly Ute tribal elders, are key partners of the current research process that is providing a means of reconnecting those groups with their cultural pasts and traditional landscapes, beginning a process of long-term cultural decolonization.