From East to West, they Came
By Larry Stroud
Associate Editor
Batesville Daily Guard
Batesville, Arkansas
For the first time on an “official” Web site, an American Indian tradition that some tribes’ ancestors came to ancient America from the east has been presented. Several tribes have such traditions.
Official academic dogma is that all ancestors of the Indians came to ancient America by walking across the Bering Strait land bridge that existed in the distant past.
This is definitely a breakthrough moment.
On a “thread” of discussion on the National Parks Traveler site, stemming from a post about a Lenne Lenape Indian exhibit, a Wapanaki Indian writes that according to migration charts done on eastern Algonquin birch scrolls (also spelled Algonkin) and knowledge provided by wampum belts, his ancient ancestors moved from east to west, not from west to east.
My fellow researcher Myron Paine has insisted for years that his research shows that oceans were not barriers to reaching America from other lands, but instead were moving highways and that many ancient peoples came here in many boats from many places at many times.
While the Wapanaki Indian’s comments do not totally agree with Paine’s theories, the idea of east to west migration of Indian tribes’ ancestors has been so suppressed by those in power in the academic world that, Paine says, “His writing presents, on an ‘official’ Web site, the story we in Ancient America (research) have been trying to tell for years. Sure, there are a few sentences that are not what I think correct, but a poor time to pick nits is when the ram is charging in the direction you want.”
The “thread” stems from the current display, “Lenape: Ellis Island’s First Inhabitants,” at Ellis Island National Monument. The Lenne Lenape (Delaware) Indians were living on Ellis Island and the area which is now New York City when the first European colonists arrived. For 40 years, they coexisted peacefully.
The Internet discussion also delves into what wampum is and what it isn’t. Every school child knows that wampum is American Indian money, right? Of course, that’s not so, just as it is not so that Christopher Columbus was the first to discover America.
Even the best dictionaries state that wampum was Indian money. As the Wapanaki points out in the discussion, wampum — a series of small, tubular beads made from white or violet seashells — was commonly strung together in belts and was not used by the Indians as money. The patterns on the belts made by the contrast between the dark and light beads had meanings to the Indians.
The patterns recorded things like terms of treaties between different tribes or bands of Indians, the seating order of chiefs for a council meeting and other items that were important to the tribe. In the case of a treaty, if the two sides at some point disagreed on what the treaty said, the keeper of the wampum would bring out the appropriate belt and, using it as a mnemonic (memory aid) device, recite the terms of the original treaty.
The Wapanaki said the wampum belts’ real functions are as “cerebral microchips” for the best computer in the world — the human brain. He is also hoping to locate wampum belts that are gathering dust in displays or in storage at museums across the nation, as he says some Indians can still “read” the belts, which may contain valuable historical information.
When Europeans arrived, the colonists needed something to use for money. Coins were scarce, but the colonists noted that wampum had value, was easily divisible and was scarce because the wampum beads took a lot of labor to make, according to another Web site, www.thebeadsite.com.
So, that Web site states, wampum was adopted as money by the colonists.
It never was “Indian money.” Generally, the rate of wampum among the colonists was six white or three black (violet) beads being the equivalent of a penny. The violet was more valuable because it was not as easily available, coming only from the purple portion of the quahog clam.
The Wapanaki says those who walked across the Bering land bridge in ancient times are the Inuit (Eskimo) people.
Several other American Indians take part in the Lenape exhibit discussion and so does the exhibit’s curator, Bob Janiskee, who appears surprised at the many directions the “thread” has taken.
The Lenape exhibit was put up last month and will continue to be on display at Ellis Island National Monument until mid-January.
To look at the National Parks Traveler site and read the comments, visit National Parks Traveler, Ellis Island, Lenape Display. to view Paine’s Web site, visitwww.frozentrail.org.
An Indian woman who personally visited the Lenape exhibit and had high praise for it is trying to find a permanent site for the display in another museum, apparently with Janiskee’s blessing.-----------
Larry Stroud is the associate editor of the Batesville Daily Guard newspaper. He can be reached at larrydstroud@yahoo.com or at the Guard office at (870) 793-2383.