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Wayne Adkins descibes what he believes
is the importance of Werowocomoco to the Virginia Indian community...:
Wayne
Adkins Part 1
...and the current model of cooperation
between the WRG, landowners, and the Virginia Indians: Wayne
Adkins Part 2
The Werowocomoco Research Group (WRG)
and the landowners of the site made a significant step toward establishing
a new paradigm for cooperative archaeology when they decided that
they wanted the descendent Indian communities involved in the research
planning, activities and interpretation from the outset. They approached
the Virginia Council on Indians, the state entity responsible for
Indian issues, and informed them in executive session in November,
2002, about the proposed research. The WRG then invited the chiefs
and tribal leaders to a meeting at the site during which they gave
an overview of the research plans and goals and the desire for a
partnership with the Virginia Indians. This meeting took place in
February, 2003. At that time, the WRG asked the tribal leaders for
a Virginia Indian Advisory Board made up of representatives of the
descendent community tribes.
The Virginia Indian Advisory
Board was formed of tribal appointees before the first field research
was begun at Werowocomoco. Members include Jeff Brown, Pamunkey;
Kerry Canaday, Chickahominy; Mark Custalow, Mattaponi; Lee Lockamy,
Nansemond; Chief Anne Richardson, Rappahannock; Reggie Tupponce,
Upper Mattaponi, and ex-officio advisors Chief Steve Adkins, Chickahominy
and Chief Emeritus Oliver Perry, Nansemond.
Landowner Lynn Ripley describes her role
in interacting with the Virginia Indian community: Lynn
Ripley
The responsibilities of the Virginia Indian
Advisory Board include advising the Werowocomoco Research Group
and the landowners on issues concerning research planning, research
methodology and interpretation. This advice may occasionally take
the form of developing policy. As one of its early activities, the
Advisory Board crafted a policy on human remains and grave goods,
as the treatment of human remains and funerary objects is a highly
significant concern of the Virginia Indian community. In drafting
the policy, the Advisory Board used as a guide the text of a policy
that had been formally adopted by the Virginia Council on Indians
in 1993. The text of the policy was then adapted specifically for
the Werowocomoco property. Subsequently the policy was formally
adopted by the WRG and the landowners. (To see the policy, click
here.)
The Werowocomoco Virginia Indian Advisory
Board members also help keep their tribal communities informed on
the activities and plans at Werowocomoco, and they solicit opinions
and information to share with the WRG and the landowners to help
in making future plans.
Scheduled visits by members of the descendent
Indian communities are welcomed by the landowners, both during the
research periods and at other times throughout the year. During
the first research phase of 2003, many tribal members came to visit
and some even worked along with the archaeology team.
In the fall and winter months of 2003/04,
the Werowocomoco Research Group will be making formal presentations
on the results of the first year's research to the Virginia Council
on Indians and to Virginia's tribal communities. These presentations
will provide additional opportunity for open interaction and dialogue
between the WRG and the Virginia Indian community, so that the research
at Werowocomoco progresses with the researchers, landowners and
the descendent Indian communities in full partnership.
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