[meteorite-list] Other meteorites

From: Jason Utas <meteoritekid_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:47:07 -0800
Message-ID: <93aaac890912101947i56e1b12avd3769fb815e2e10b_at_mail.gmail.com>

Hello Again E.P., All,

> First off, I have no idea where or what the GR have as their sacred mountain, but I can assure you that their naming their casino "Sacred Mountain Casino" in no way dishonors their religion. It simply would not have been done. Period.

It may or may not dishonor it - depends on your religion, I suppose,
and how you view gambling, but it's certainly taking part of the
natural/mystical aspect of Native American culture and commercializing
it for a profit. The point is that, assuming they do have a 'sacred
mountain,' it's pretty much desecrating it. If I were to go and found
a casino called Temple Mount Casino in, say, Jerusalem, I have the
feeling that a lot of people wouldn't be too happy.

> As far as any future legalities go, I suppose these may be an isssue lawyers in court might decide. I won't play lawyer with you here on the meteorite list. In real life, you have to remember that Sacred Mountain Casino generates a lot of money; real lawyers like money.

Right, but that really says nothing about the legitimacy of their
clams, which is an issue you're now skirting.

> Darryl,"hanging in the wind", ?has my sympathy on this one, and I hope a way out that benefits everyone will be found.

In this case, I'd side exclusively with Darryl. He happened to make a
very lucky trade for that Willamette a number of years ago, which was
realized when lunar prices dropped to about .5% of what they once were
and iron prices remained quite stable.
The Native Americans on the other hand, other misfortunes aside, well,
I'll reiterate - from a historical perspective, there's nothing to
even say they knew the meteorite was there. Regardless of how they
have been robbed in the past, this is an instant where giving them the
meteorite, while a nice gesture, wouldn't be "returning" anything to
them since it's clearly open to debate as to whether or not the
meteorite had any significance to them a hundred years (or more) ago.
The fact that it's worth something ($$) now...well, it's worth a lot
to whomever can lay a claim on it, and not for spiritual reasons.

>> "I mean, why Willamette? ?Why not, say, Winona? ?Casas Grandes?
>> Hopewell? ?Bonita Springs? ?Navajo? ?All of these had some importance
>> to the native population, and all of these were in turn taken away
>> from their respective tribes."
>>
> A very good question. Why not? These meteorites are not only the cultural property of those of >Native Descent living in those areas now, but of all the citizens who live in those areas today, and >their cultural rights should be recognized as well.

Because this just isn't making any sense!
I agree - laws for such things should be in place to preserve the
archaeology and history of such sites, but giving such things back to
their respective owners...what you're essentially saying is that any
meteorite that was known to Native Americans back before White folks
came should belong to them because it has cultural significance. Now
you're going to have to start returning every single relic and
artifact in every museum across the world to its respective place of
origin so that the descendants of the people who made it can have it
back, because of it's cultural relevance.

 Every. Single. Artifact.

Jason


> E.P. Grondine
> Man and Impact in the Americas
>
>
>
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Received on Thu 10 Dec 2009 10:47:07 PM PST