Page 10 - Edwards AFB Desert Wings 11-20-15
P. 10
Desert Wings &RPPXQLW\1HZV November 20, 2015
10 www.aerotechnews.com/edwardsafb facebook.com/EdwardsDesertWings
10,000 years of base history presented at luncheon
by Rebecca Amber Another exciting discovery that Love Air Force photographs by Rebecca Amber
Staff writer talked about is the base of a clovis point
that was discovered on Edwards. The clovis Live music for the Native American Indian Heritage Month luncheon Nov. 12 at Club Muroc
Team Edwards learned about the people is the oldest style of projectile point known was provided by the Jimmy Lee Young Band.
who have had a presence at Edwards for the in North America. Its telltale signature is a
last 10,000 years during the Native Ameri- ÀXWHGJURRYHDWLWVEDVH7KHRQHGLVFRY- Irish on her father’s side and Potawatomi domski, 412th Test Wing vice commander,
can Indian Heritage Month Luncheon Nov. ered at Edwards had been sand-blasted, and French on her mother’s side. Her his- said observances like this one are about
12. which he attributed to lying on the surface WRU\KDVJUHDWO\LQÀXHQFHGWKHZRPDQVKH building a team mentality among the test
of the lakebed for 10,000 years. is today as a contemporary Native Ameri- wing.
Luncheon guests turned their attention to- can artist.
wards a projector set up in Club Muroc for Piute Ponds has also been a place of dis- “There is not a mission that hap-
Dr. Bruce Love, an independent researcher covery. Crescents that were believed to be Live entertainment for the luncheon was pens on this base that one single indi-
who is said to have more than 30 years of used for hunting birds were found in areas provided by the Jimmy Lee Young band vidual is responsible for. Everything
experience in the Antelope Valley in the that are used today for duck hunting. Love while guests ate dishes like squash potatoes. is done as a team,” he said. “Part of the
fields of archaeology, ethnohistory and said the discovery got him thinking about way we do that is through education and
cultural anthropology. the possibility of 10,000 years of duck hunt- In his closing remarks, Col. David Ra- awareness so that’s why things like this
ing at Piute Ponds. are so important.”
According to Love, most archeology is
done on the surface by walking back and According to Love, lakeshores are excel-
IRUWKUHFRUGLQJHYLGHQFHDQG¿QGLQJV,W¶V lent areas for discovering artifacts because
not until items are actually discovered on those are the areas where native people
the surface that they start excavation. Ac- lived, hunted, were born and buried. He
cording to Love, one finding in Willow cautioned however, that if an individual
Springs uncovered shell beads that were GRHV¿QGDQDUWLIDFWWROHDYHLWDORQH7DN-
radiocarbon dated to 8,810 years ago. The ing the item out of its original context is like
beads would have been used by native “ripping a page out of the history books”
people for jewelry, decoration and sacred and destroys the history.
ceremonial items for burials.
The other guest speaker of the day was
Love shared that much of the local arche- artist Nadiya Littlewarrior who shared
ology is directly connected to the lakebeds. memories of her favorite uncle, Capt. John
'HH:KLSSOHDUHWLUHG86$LU)RUFH¿JKW-
“Instead of being a couple of small dry er pilot.
lakes like we have here, there was at one
time a major lake towards the end of the “He was my hero,” said Littlewarrior
Ice Age before it dried up 8,000 years ago,” about her uncle who was stationed at Ed-
he said. wards on several occasions.
The Antelope Valley, he said, once Growing up on a cattle ranch in the
looked more like Piute Ponds. In fact, Love South West Texas Panhandle, Littlewarrior
said the Antelope Valley really isn’t a val- “knows for a fact” that she has seen a UFO.
ley at all — it’s a basin. All of the water
drains in the middle, which is the reason the Littlewarrior was given her name from
lakebeds exist today. her family after she was born weighing four
pounds, eight ounces. She is Cherokee and
Dr. Bruce Love shows a photo of Piute Ponds, which he says is much like what the Antelope Valley used to look like before the dry Artist, Nadiya Littlewarrior, shared memories
lakebeds were formed.
of her favorite uncle, Capt. John Dee Whipple,
UHWLUHG$LU)RUFH¿JKWHUSLORWGXULQJWKH1DWLYH
American Indian Heritage Month Luncheon
Nov. 12.
