Today.Az » Weird / Interesting » Saskatchewan has secret aboriginal burial ground
10 August 2011 [20:20] - Today.Az
Somewhere along the South Saskatchewan River is a secret aboriginal burial ground owned and operated by the provincial government. The historic remains of nearly 200 unidentified aboriginals have been interred there over the last 14 years.
Not many people know about the remote spot and the province isn`t putting it on any tourist maps, says Carlos Germann, director of Saskatchewan`s heritage conservation branch.
"There`s a certain level of confidentiality that has to be maintained here," he says. "This is considered a very sacred burial ground to First Nations, unique in that it accommodates all different tribal affiliations."
Germann says it`s the only one like it in the country. The government set aside the four-hectare parcel of Crown land in 1998 to re-inter remains that had no where else to go — bones lying on museum and university shelves, unearthed during construction or discovered due to land erosion.
They find their final resting place at the sacred site if there`s no way to determine if the dead belonged to a certain tribe or there`s no way to return them to the places where they were found. He says elders representing eight different linguistic groups hold burial ceremonies and pray for the bodies to rest in peace.
The oldest remains date back between 5,000 and 6,000 years, says Germann. Unearthed and unidentified remains that experts determine are non-aboriginal take a different reburial route.
Museums, governments make amends for excavation of remains
Germann says each year an average of six sets of remains are added to the secret site.
Last month, remains belonging to two aboriginal men were found in the southern part of the province. A construction crew in the town of Oxbow unearthed limb bones in a dirt pile that were about 200 years old. And people canoeing on Moosomin Lake discovered a skull and other bones dating back 500 to 1,000 years on the shoreline.
Ernie Walker, an archaeology professor with the University of Saskatchewan, examined the remains and determined they hold no research value. He then gave them to the government for proper burial.
/CBC News/
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