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chickee talk

In Defense Photo of the THPO Team with Director Kirk Johnson, Smithsonian National Museum

of the Ancestors of Natural History, Washington DC, February 2023.

conducting cultural resource surveys on tribal lands for permit
actions. Our Tribe has its own cultural resource ordinance that
regulates land use activity on all of our reservations and tribally-
by Tina Marie Osceola owned properties. The reports generated by Moe and her team lay
here is no job that could offer the foundation the Tribe uses for tribal consultation and to put it
T simply, for the Tribe to tell its story and defend its position. This
more inspiration than the one I
team has dug more than 50,000 holes since its formation in 2005.
currently hold with the Seminole
Tribe of Florida. As a student of Catholic The Collections Section is led by a strong-willed and fierce
school, I was taught about what a “vocation” woman, Domonique “Domo” deBeaubien. Domo and her team
is… about a calling. Being appointed by my are responsible for the preservation, cataloging, and protection of
leaders, the Tribal Council, as the Tribal the Tribe’s Archaeological collection, which has grown to more
Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), was one of my most proud than 500,000 objects. All of the material taken out of the ground
career moments. Every single day I am defending the rights of my during TAS’ surveys are washed, analyzed, cataloged, and stored by
ancestors. her team of bio-archaeologists and archaeologists. The collections
According to the National Association of Tribal Historic team is also responsible for research, the Tribal Register of Historic
Preservation Officers (NATHPO), “Tribal Historic Preservation Places, the nomination of sites to the National Register, the
Officers are officially designated by a federally-recognized Indian maintenance of the Seminole Site File (not for public research),
tribe to direct a program approved by the National Park Service and the protection and repatriation of our ancestors.
and the THPO must have assumed some or all of the functions of The Compliance Section is our outward-facing team led by
State Historic Preservation Officers on Tribal lands. This program detail-focused Danielle Simon. Compliance holds the frontline,
was made possible by the provisions of Section 101(d)(2) of the so to speak, with outside agencies required to consult with Tribes
National Historic Preservation Act.” That is a lot of legal speak under that glob of federal laws I spoke of earlier.
for what I describe as the defense of our ancestors and our tribe’s For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
cultural and historic resources. I realize that for most, even my own is required to consult with Tribes on various
family, it’s hard to grasp what I do everyday. I’ve been introduced as
a person who does “archaeology and all that stuff” to “she fights the
government.” So for all of you, I want to explain a day in the work
life of a Seminole THPO. This is a very abridged version but it’s a
start!
First off, I work with a team of amazing professionals. We joke
that we function much like The Expendables. We are a diverse
group, but we get the job done!
The Seminole’s THPO is divided into four sections, Tribal
Archaeology, Collections, Compliance, and Archaeometry. The glue
that keeps the four sections together is a sticky glob of applicable
federal and state laws, tribal ordinances, mixed with a sprinkling of
tribal culture and tradition. The magic is in that tribal potion!
The Tribal Archaeology Section (TAS) is led by FSU grad
Maureen “Moe” Mahoney. Moe is a no-nonsense, steadfast woman
with an ability to lead a team of archaeologists responsible for

16 Life in Naples | January 2024