Ancient Cahokia ‘America’s first city’

Ancient remains at ‘America’s first city’ reveal women held high-power positions | Daily Mail Online

Almost 50 years ago, archaeologists excavating an ancient city just outside of St. Louis discovered a mass burial site with an unusual central feature – two bodies arranged atop a bed of beads, with several other bodies encircling them.

It was once thought that the elaborate ‘beaded burial’ structure at Cahokia was built as a monument to male power – but now, researchers suggest this is not the case.

A new analysis of the remains reveals that one of these central bodies is actually female, and researchers say the discovery of similar male-female pairs and the remains of a child indicates that women played an important role in society.

In the new study, published to the journal American Antiquity, researchers with the Illinois State Archaeological Survey at the University of Illinois and colleagues found that there are both male and female remains buried at the site of the Native American city, Cahokia. 

Cahokia is said to be North America's first city, and is the largest pre-Columbian settlement north of Mexico. 

Read More: 

• Daily Mail Online: America's First City
• CBS News: Ancient burial mound reveals role of women
• Ancient Origins: Unraveling the mystery of the beaded burial

Update: Amber Toppah

I would like to add an update to my September blog on Amber Toppah.  The image used was not correct.  As such I have updated the post with the correct image (to the right ->>).  

My humble apologies to Amber who altered me to the error.

Please revisit: First Female Kiowa Leader again.

First Female Kiowa Leader

From the Native American Times:

While Kiowa women have always been integral to the workings of the tribe in political, cultural, and social spectrums (regardless of their at times absence from some historical and contemporary records), 37 year old Ah-Keen-Geah-Ah-Lay (Charging After the Enemy) was recently sworn in as the tribe’s first female leader.  Her legal name is Amber Toppah and she is the great-great-great granddaughter of Chief Satanta (White Bear).  Ah-Keen-Geah-Ah-Lay is the daughter of Carol Bearbow Toppah (Kiowa/Cheyenne) and the late Byron Toppah (Kiowa). She is one of a growing number of younger Kiowas to be obtaining higher education degrees and choosing to work within the at times difficult field of tribal governance.

Interview: Irene Bedard

From Indian Country Today Media Network:

Since portraying Mary Crow Dog in the Television production of Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee, depicting the Wounded Knee Standoff, Golden-Globe winning Alaska Native actress has appeared in a vast segment of Hollywood’s finest productions. From her beloved character Suzy Song in Smoke Signals to her voice work in Disney’s Pocahontas, Bedard has proven that a Native actress can make it to the big screen and then some.

In July of 2012, Bedard co-starred in Colonial Williamsburg’s production of “The Beloved Woman,” with actor Wes Studi. During a rehearsal break, she took a few moments to speak with ICTMN about working with Studi, working as a Native actress and what’s to come in the future.

USA: Violence Against Women Rising

From CNN:

Fifteen years after passage of the Violence Against Women Act to combat physical abuse of women and girls, domestic violence remains especially acute among Native American and Alaska Native women, Justice officials said Monday.

"The levels of violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women are shocking, and cannot be tolerated," said Deputy Attorney General David Ogden. "Indeed, in some tribal land counties, murder rates for American Indian and Alaska Native women are 10 times the national average."

A new report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics released Monday said its victimization survey showed 652,000 incidents of overall violent crime inflicted by intimate partners in 2008.

More than 550,000 violent incidents targeted women; 101,050 targeted men.

Most of the incidents were classified as simple assaults, but there were 111,530 cases of aggravated assault, 44,000 rapes and sexual assaults and 38,820 robberies.

The number of homicides by intimate partners rose slightly in the past two years, while the cases of nonfatal intimate partner violence continued to decline, the Justice Department report said.

Native Women Targetted by Apathy

From the Canadian Press:

A new report says the federal government's feeble efforts to stop violence against native women should shock Canadians.

Amnesty International says Ottawa must get to the heart of why more than 500 native women have vanished or been murdered in the last 30 years.

The report says federal cash for studies and sensitivity training for police has not stopped the attacks.

Amnesty urged Ottawa to produce a national action plan to co-ordinate standard police investigations and fund victim services.

The human rights watchdog, as well as opposition MPs, are among those urging a national investigation.

The United Nations has also called on Ottawa to look into why the deaths and disappearances of hundreds of native women are unsolved.

Comanche Nation Honours Women

From KAUZ:

It's a long-honored tradition brought to life in Lawton. The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center paid tribute to the Comanche women who owned, built and moved their homes by building a full-size teepee in front of the museum.

The teepee is one of a kind, painted by a local Comanche artist. Organizers say the raising of the teepee has a great historical importance to the Comanche nation.

Phyllis Wahahrock-Tsi, Museum Director, said "The significance of Comanche women raising the tepee is one role that women played historically among the Comanche women, so this is one way we're able to educate the young children, especially the Comanche children and the Lawton/Fort s=Sill community here."

The teepee will be on display through Sunday (September 26th) in front of the museum located at 701 Northwest Ferris Avenue in Lawton.

Aboriginal Women in Canada

From NUPGE (National Union of Public & General Employees):

The Harper government is once again deflecting calls for a public investigation into more than 500 cases of missing or murdered Aboriginal women. Amnesty International, the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC), the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) and the Liberal Party of Canada have all called on the federal government to take more action on the alarming number of Aboriginal women and girls that have been murdered or gone missing in the past three decades.

In March, 2009 the NWAC released a second edition of Voice of Our Sisters in Spirit: A Report to Families and Communities. The Sisters in Spirit Initiative is a multi-year research, education and policy initiative designed to investigate the disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. NUPGE has supported this initiative with funding through its "Building International Sisterhood" projects.

Support Sisters in Spirit

Champions for Missing Women

From CTV Winnipeg:
The Conservative government is deflecting calls for a public investigation into more than 500 cases of missing or murdered native women.

Liberal MP Anita Neville says her party will push until the government acts.

She says there would be national outrage if hundreds of women from another cultural group were targeted the same way.

A recent report found that 520 native girls and women - most under the age of 30 - have been killed or have vanished since 1970. Two-thirds of them - 348 women - were murdered, and almost one-quarter are still missing.

The government cites $5 million spent on the Sisters in Spirit research campaign, and says it's working on a second phase.