Salem girl donates Native artifact to Tribe

Thanks to a 10-year-old Salem girl, the future Grand Ronde Museum and Cultural Center will have one more Tribal artifact to display when it opens.

Micheaylaa Engman, a fourth-grader at Richmond Elementary School, found the artifact - a biface - while digging in the dirt at the Salem apartment where she lives with her mother and brother.

The apartment is about 100 yards south of Mill Creek, which was a site heavily used by Native Americans in the pre-contact era.

After finding the item, which Engman told The Salem Statesman-Journal looked like a "pretty weird rock," she showed it to her mother, Callavinna Simons, who called the Marion County Historical Society, which referred them to the state Parks and Recreation Department.

State Archaeologist Dennis Griffin authenticated the item as a Native American artifact, probably used by the Santiam band of the Kalapuya people.

Griffin said it was a biface because the stone is flaked in such a way as to create a cutting edge that is sharp on both sides.

Tribal member and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Eirik Thorsgard said the tool could have been used as a cutting implement or a scraper. He told The Statesman-Journal that he has never seen one like it from the Willamette Valley.

The estimated age of the artifact is anywhere from 200 to 2,000 years old.

On Monday, April 30, Engman and her mother and brother, Devon, visited the Tribe and signed over the deed to the artifact. Thorsgard said that when the museum opens in 2013, her name will be on display with the artifact as the donor.

In return for the donation, the Tribe gifted Engman a modern arrowhead, a shell necklace made by Tribal members and a DVD and book about the Tribe.

"It's good to make sure they are getting a fair trade, for children especially, because when they find something, they have an emotional attachment," Thorsgard told The Statesman-Journal. "It is important when they take the step to give it back that you celebrate their contribution."

Griffin advised others that if they find Native American artifacts while working in the garden or digging that the best course of action is to leave it in its place, take a photo and call his office.

"Every Tribe is trying to find ways to tell the story of who they were to the general public and future generations," Thorsgard said. "Being given the opportunity to have artifacts our ancestors made is important to help us tell that story."

Includes information from The Salem Statesman-Journal.