2004: National Museum of the American Indian opens
Part of the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian opened its doors in 2004. Central to the museum's mission is working with native peoples and organizations to build collections, mount exhibits, and shape the visitor's experience.
2009: Redwood boxes of artifacts found on San Nicolas Island
In 2009, archeologists Jon Erlandson, Steve Schwartz, and René L. Vellanoweth found two redwood boxes buried on an eroded cliff on San Nicolas Island. The boxes are remarkable in their content: more than 200 artifacts—including fish hooks, a harpoon, carving tools, hair pins, knives, and pendants that reveal San Nicolas Island, Kodiak Island (Alaska), and European/American manufacture. The confluence of these materials on the island dates the box to a narrow window of time, and researchers think it is highly likely that items gathered belonged to the Nicoleña now commonly known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. She lived circa 1800–1853.
2012: Indian Cave found on San Nicolas Island
In 2012, after many years of searching for the cave believed to be occupied by the Lone Woman, a team of archeologists led by US Navy archeologist Steve Schwartz found the cave’s opening by using as a guide field notes to an 1879 government survey map that included a label, “Indian Cave.” The cave is believed to have been used by the Lone Woman during her years of isolation and also by her ancestors for thousands of years before. Because cave environments expertly preserve artifacts, the cave may well contain within it clues to the entire environmental and cultural history of the island. Schwartz and his team, which included René L. Vellanoweth and his graduate students, removed about a million pounds of sand from the cave’s mouth. They calculate that the cave is at least seventy-five feet long, twenty feet wide, and twenty feet deep. Inside the opening, they found an engraving dating back to 1911, glass bottles, pieces of wood and metal, and the remnants of a fishing camp. Excavation of the cave was halted in April 2012 after the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians filed a NAGPRA claim that the US Navy recognized. The NAGPRA is a federal law that requires that sacred objects, human remains, and funerary objects be returned to their culturally affiliated groups.
Part of the Smithsonian Institute, the National Museum of the American Indian opened its doors in 2004. Central to the museum's mission is working with native peoples and organizations to build collections, mount exhibits, and shape the visitor's experience.
2009: Redwood boxes of artifacts found on San Nicolas Island
In 2009, archeologists Jon Erlandson, Steve Schwartz, and René L. Vellanoweth found two redwood boxes buried on an eroded cliff on San Nicolas Island. The boxes are remarkable in their content: more than 200 artifacts—including fish hooks, a harpoon, carving tools, hair pins, knives, and pendants that reveal San Nicolas Island, Kodiak Island (Alaska), and European/American manufacture. The confluence of these materials on the island dates the box to a narrow window of time, and researchers think it is highly likely that items gathered belonged to the Nicoleña now commonly known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island. She lived circa 1800–1853.
2012: Indian Cave found on San Nicolas Island
In 2012, after many years of searching for the cave believed to be occupied by the Lone Woman, a team of archeologists led by US Navy archeologist Steve Schwartz found the cave’s opening by using as a guide field notes to an 1879 government survey map that included a label, “Indian Cave.” The cave is believed to have been used by the Lone Woman during her years of isolation and also by her ancestors for thousands of years before. Because cave environments expertly preserve artifacts, the cave may well contain within it clues to the entire environmental and cultural history of the island. Schwartz and his team, which included René L. Vellanoweth and his graduate students, removed about a million pounds of sand from the cave’s mouth. They calculate that the cave is at least seventy-five feet long, twenty feet wide, and twenty feet deep. Inside the opening, they found an engraving dating back to 1911, glass bottles, pieces of wood and metal, and the remnants of a fishing camp. Excavation of the cave was halted in April 2012 after the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians filed a NAGPRA claim that the US Navy recognized. The NAGPRA is a federal law that requires that sacred objects, human remains, and funerary objects be returned to their culturally affiliated groups.
Last updated: November 17, 2018