A ceremonial reburial for 64 pre-Colonial Chesapeake Indians was held yesterday, 15 years after their remains were unearthed by archaeologists in Virginia Beach.
The Chesapeakes' new grave is in the sandy woods of First Landing/Seashore State Park, not far from where the tribe lived near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The remains were carried in by minivan from the storage shelves in state offices where they had been kept for years.
The remains were divided into 40 small bundles wrapped in red cloth to represent peace and light. Tucked carefully into each bundle were pouches of corn and tobacco, which were staples of the tribe, along with an eagle feather to symbolize the flight of the spirit after death.
As the woods filled with the smell of sweetgrass burning in a large clam shell, tribal leaders in headdresses and buckskins carried the bundles one by one to the lip of a large, circular excavation. At the bottom, the bundles were arranged in a circle, which represents the stages of man's existence, and covered with white gauze to represent purity. In the center of the circle were the remains of the Chesapeake chief, wrapped in blue cloth, and resting atop a large turtle shell.
The ceremony was simple. A chief of the Southern Cheyenne tribe tapped on a drum and sang a traditional song to wish the earthbound spirit a good journey to the Great Spirit. There was a prayer, and then some in the crowd of about 150 sprinkled sand into the grave as they left.
The ceremony was the second in Virginia in recent years, and almost certainly will not be the last. Oliver Perry, chief emeritus of the Nansemond tribe, said Indians are just starting to reclaim a huge stockpile of their ancestors' bones from dusty storage in museums and government offices. It was Perry who arranged for the release of the Chesapeakes' remains so they could be given a decent burial.
''I think it's simply a matter of what's right, what's just,'' he said. The ceremony was attended by representatives of all eight recognized tribes in Virginia -- the Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Nansemond and Monacan. Some American Indians came from as far away as upstate New York. The crowd ranged from grizzled chiefs to babies sucking on pacifiers.
''A ceremony like this shows people that we (American Indians) are still here,'' said Arthur Adkins, chief of the Chickahominy tribe. ''We've been to hell and back, but we're still here.''
The Chesapeakes last lived in what is now South Hampton Roads around the time of the settlement of Jamestown in 1607, according to historians. The tribe enjoyed good relations with visiting Europeans and tribes to the south but was regarded with suspicion by the vast Powhatan nation to the west, which the Chesapeakes had refused to join.
Helen C. Rountree, a professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, says the Chesapeakes may have been wiped out by Chief Powhatan's forces after Powhatan heard a prophecy that his nation would be overrun by a conqueror from the east.
The 64 sets of remains were unearthed by archaeologists in the Great Neck area of Virginia Beach in the 1970s and 1980s. After being examined by researchers, they were placed in storage at the state Department of Historic Resources in Richmond.
About 10 years ago, Perry began asking for their return. State officials were receptive and helpful from the start, he said, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service even donated the eagle feathers for the ceremony. But the process of establishing legal responsibility for the remains was lengthy, Perry said. He persuaded the government that his Nansemond tribe, which was a friendly neighbor to the Chesapeakes while they existed, should be allowed to adopt the remains.
Perry said it was still unclear how the grave would be marked.
(4 years later a plaque was dedicated)
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