Voices of the Society for American Archaeology

By K. Kris Hirst, About.com Guide

Listen to Felton Bricker.

I think it's about time for the Indian people to tell what really happened, what it's really all about. Because of [archaeologist's] education and everything, they think they're going to tell us how we lived, how we ate and what we ate, and I think that's really not a true statement because a few minor word changes makes it sound like they are responsible for what we did. They're not. We are responsible for our own selves. But if it came about it should be told by native people. They're digging up some of the things that we don't need. In England there is a museum where there are bones that are put on display. We don't do that. We did travel on this earth and I'm just here to look and see what my people did.

The Mojave people and other tribes in the area are laying claim to be descendants of the Anasazi. Anasazi people were tall people. I'll leave that up to you guys to figure out for yourselves because the only tribe in the whole area from Nevada to California and the Mojave people were the tallest. So the history and living of Mojaves--somebody should take a backward glance and really look at the past that you have already desecrated by picking it up and making studies. Study it a little bit better, and maybe you'll come up with something, most of all look at the language as it's spoken properly. You may find out something that you really don't know. That's the Mojave thought. Not to make trouble, but the truth needs to be that. Felton Bricker, Fort Mojave