ABSTRACT
The Ancient One affects me because I have handled so many reburials for the Colville tribes that have been dug up by public utility districts, state highway departments, and the telephone companies. From the oral teachings of my great-grandmothers, we were taught that all artifacts, be they skulls or bones, need to be left alone. We were taught that anything taken from the ground was put back in the ground. Not all Indians were taught the same, but we were all taught to respect one another's remains. We were taught that Mother Nature and the soil were our banks where we could put things to be saved and not disturbed. Those areas where these people were found were spiritual, but we were taught that all the grounds that tribes owned—which was all the land—should be protected. Anthropologists ask if this or that area is “spiritual,” and I say all areas are spiritual.
