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On Aug. 28, Hurricane Irene tore open Linden Avenue Road, disgorging ancient bones dangling from an eroded embankment, about 20 feet above sea level. Yesterday a medicine man (pictured) along with the elders of the Native American Heritage Advisory Council and the elders of the town of Branford, stood in a circle and with smoke spiraling above them engaged in a smudging ceremony. Then they returned the bones to a place where earth meets sea and sky.
Archeologists believe the bodies may have belonged to a young Totoket woman and a child who lived more than 500 years ago, before there was any contact with the English or the Dutch. The Totokets inhabited the Branford peninsula in the 1600’s and were part of the Quinnipiac tribe. Now 400 families live on the peninsula, some of the most expensive real estate in Branford. Linden Avenue is being rebuilt.
The 30-minute long smudging ceremony began when the sun was high and the tide was low. A medicine chief named Fox-Running, a Quinnipiac Native American from Stony Creek, led the ceremony, which is both a cleansing and a blessing ritual. It is designed to drive away bad spirits so that a person may be healed. It was conducted in English.
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Council leader Ed Sarabia held an abalone shell in which he first put some sage. Then each person in the circle put a piece of tobacco in the shell. Then the tobacco and the herb were lit and began to burn. Fox-Running waved his fan of feathers upward so the smoke encircled him. Then each person in the circle made a 360-degree turn as Fox-Running’s feather wand fanned the smoke around the person to cleanse him or her.
“The creator gave us tobacco so that when we pray, the smoke carries our prayers to our creator,” Fox-Running said. The body is purified by the smoke, Sarabia said after the ceremony. (The Branford Eagle is honoring the Council’s request not to publish photos of the ceremony.)
The smudging ceremony included First Selectman Unk DaRos, Town Engineer Janice Plaziak, Capt. Geoffrey Morgan of the police department, four construction workers who will place giant boulders above the burial ground and the members of the Native American Council.
After the ceremony, one of the female Council members, who would not give her name, retrieved a carton that held the bones. Then members of the group, using shovels, dug into the earth about two feet down, in order to return the bones to earth. The State Medical Examiner’s office returned the bones to the Council Wednesday.
The Pawson Park-Indian Neck section of Branford is rich in Native American history. The Indian Neck-Pawson Park peninsula was inhabited by the Totoket Indians, led by Chief Pawson during the 17th century. By 1716, the Indians had sold the property to the First Ecclesiastical Society of the First Congregational Church of Branford. The Society held leases on the some of the property until it was transferred to the Linden Shore District in 1967.
Fox-Running, the medicine chief, said the bones might be 400 or 500 years old or “they could be several thousands of years old. We don’t know for sure.” Finding them so intact, he said, was unusual because given their age they might have disintegrated. But because they were encased in sea shells and sea shells contain lime, they were intact except for some discoloration from the soil, he said.
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Sarabia (pictured) said two skeleton remains were found, along with some animals. There were two tibias, which connects the knee with the ankle bone, from one body ‚and a third tibia from another body.
Town officials worked quietly on the project for the last several weeks while at the same time putting in motion a major reconstruction of the road. It is expected to be completed in a few weeks.
Fox-Running, whose American name is Gordon Brainerd, grew up in Stony Creek and still lives in Branford. He said he was an amateur archeologist. He is the Bear Clan medicine chief for the Quinnipiac Tribal Council.
After the ceremony he spoke with reporters. “The bones have been placed back in the ground so that the creator can watch over them,” he said. Fox-Running said he was not surprised that the bones appeared because natives “have lived here for thousands of years.” He said in the past, before his time, bones from Native Americans were found in other spots along the shoreline.
“With all the development going on for so many years, no one really knows what is in the ground,” Fox-Running said. “We were surprised a little bit by the fact that the remains were uncovered and fortunately the right people stepped in and we did what was respectful for them. We put them back in the ground where they belong.”
The unexpected discovery of the bones first came to light on August 29, the day after Irene hit the shoreline and collapsed Linden Avenue.
Neighbors living near Linden Avenue saw the bones. They called the police who began an investigation to determine if the bones were connected to a homicide.
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DaRos (pictured) said the police collected the bones “and sent them up to a forensic lab. At the time we didn’t know what they were, whether animal or human. We treated them as if they were human and we protected the site for this period of time.” Police made regular surveillance checks for more than three weeks.
Police Chief Kevin Halloran said, “Our major concern during these preceding weeks was to maintain the honor and respect of those Native Americans who may have been laid to rest in this area and work closely with their ancestors to maintain the dignity they deserve.”
Last week town officials learned that the bones were both human and ancient. State archeologists came to Linden Avenue and found the site and placement of the bones to be consistent with Native American burial sites. They said the site faced Long Island Sound, a body of water, which is also consistent with where Native Americans buried their dead.
DaRos said the town would take special care to make sure the new burial site “is secure forever with huge granite blocks.” He said first the re- internment would be covered with fabric, followed by the granite. The stones were to be installed yesterday and today, he said.
And while there is no official designation, it will be a place where Native Americans can go to pay respect. Sarabia said this place is “a connection for us. It is a link.”
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He said his people will place a pebble as a way to connect, a way to say, “We have been here and we know where you are.”
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