Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles examines a collection of artifacts from the Tse-whit-zen village site that will go on display today (Friday) at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Training Center in Port Angeles. —Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles examines a collection of artifacts from the Tse-whit-zen village site that will go on display today (Friday) at the Elwha Klallam Heritage Training Center in Port Angeles. —Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Elwha tribe to display more 2,700-year-old artifacts from Tse-whit-zen village

PORT ANGELES — History may hurt, but heritage can help heal, according to the chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe.

Pain will continue turning to pride today, said Frances Charles, when the Elwha Heritage Center displays 22 more artifacts from the ancestral tribal village of Tse-whit-zen.

Thousands of the items came to light in 2003 when excavators of an enormous dry dock ripped into the 2,700-year-old village site and burial ground on the Port Angeles harborfront.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

It wasn’t the first time the remains and relics had been violated; archaeologists found water and electric lines had been run through graves to supply mills along Marine Drive.

“Seeing how our ancestors were treated, disrespected — it hurt; it still hurts today,” says a placard with Charles’s statement that stands amidst the display.

Yet the discovery — called the richest pre-European find in the Northwest — also set the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe on a journey that raised its profile in a community where some residents didn’t know the tribe was their neighbor, Charles said.

“It’s benefiting everybody,” she said Wednesday at the Heritage Center, 401 E. First St., which is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

“We see more collaboration and connections in all aspects of it” — increased awareness by the community, pride for the tribe.

The newly added artifacts — including olive shells, a pendant, an antler wedge, a large wooden needle that might have sewn seal skins, an adze and handle, hunting and fishing points, and etched stones that share stories — will bring to 66 the total relics on display inside protective cases.

All but one of the additions are mounted on driftwood from the restored mouth of the Elwha River. The last is displayed on a board that was salvaged from a longhouse that once stood in Lincoln Park.

A reception with light refreshments and featuring the tribal drumming group will start at noon today.

The items are on indefinite loan from the Burke Museum at the University of Washington, Seattle, where more than 67,000 other articles are stored.

“We’ll renew the loan every three years,” said Suzie Bennett, manager of the heritage center.

“They’ll stay here as long as we’d like them to. This was the most natural place for them to come back to.”

The first six cases of relics went on display about a year ago, along with descriptions of their uses. Two more cases joined them, accompanied by texts of two Klallam legends.

The two newest cases will be arrayed alongside written recollections of people who unearthed them.

“They [the ancestors] used my eyes to show me the things they wanted me to show the rest of the world,” wrote Mark Charles, tribal monitor.

“I know you’re hurting,” was tribal safety officer Derek Charles’ message to his forbears.

“We’re here to protect you.”

Another tribal monitor, Phillip Charles, wrote, “The first thing I found was an ischium bone.

“It was the hip bone of a child; it fit in the palm of my hand.”

Frances Charles said tribal members who worked at Tse-whit-zen, recovering remains and relics sometimes only a few feet ahead of excavators, can recall where they were when they made discoveries.

“A lot of them have come in here and were amazed,” she said.

“It did a lot of healing in different ways.”

The tribe’s objections to the dry dock, called a graving yard — which would have built huge concrete replacement pontoons to refurbish the Hood Canal Bridge — and withdrawal of support by state and federal officials stopped the project three years after it began.

The failed $100 million excavation that would have been large enough to float three USS Missouri-class battleships has been filled and allowed to go fallow. The remains of 335 ancestors have been reburied there.

That hasn’t brought complete closure for either the tribe or the community, Charles said.

“You still have the remorse out there, but you still have the anger,” she said.

However, since the Tse-whit-zen discovery, the Lower Elwha have hosted the 2005 Tribal Canoe Journey, seen the restoration of their namesake river and the uncovering of their creation site, opened a small casino, started a counseling center, opened a tribal health center and dedicated the heritage center, plus other projects.

The artifacts are the sweetest of the tribe’s bittersweet recent history.

“It’s brought everybody forward,” Charles said.

“Having the respect for our ancestors, having the respect for the ground, having the respect for what is there — we thank the ancestors and the Creator.”

Charles visits the heritage center with her granddaughter, who was too young to understand the turmoil that occurred when Tse-whit-zen was uncovered or the culture the tribe rediscovered at the site.

“It brings things back to where she says, ‘Now I know what you’re talking about, Grandma,’” Charles said.

_______

Reporter James Casey can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jcasey@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Jeannine Vaughn of Carlsborg looks a gems and jewelry at a display table operated by Steve Morgan of Joyce-based Lil’ Log Cabin Creations on Saturday at the Clallam County Rock, Gem and Jewelry Show at Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles. The show, hosted by the Clallam County Gem & Mineral Association, brought together rock enthusiasts with vendor booths and demonstrations highlighting the hobby. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Gem show

Jeannine Vaughn of Carlsborg looks a gems and jewelry at a display… Continue reading

Sequim City Council members will discuss March 24 how the city’s Fourth of July fireworks display, pictured in 2022, impacts wildlife and residents. Local advocates made the request to council members in February to stop the fireworks display and move the drone show away from wildlife habitat at Carrie Blake Community Park. (Michael Dashiell/Olympic Peninsula News Group file)
Sequim City Council to discuss fireworks

Grassroots group advocates for changes

Interact Club members fill jugs and buckets in the Dungeness River for the annual Walk for Water event on March 1. They walk about 4 miles roundtrip to symbolize how far some people must go for drinking water. They raised more than $5,000 to help build a well in a Ghana village. (John Pehrson)
Sequim High students raise money through Walk for Water

Interact Club helps fund another well in Ghana

Rick Dickinson.
Clallam County Habitat for Humanity chosen for pilot program

Liaison part of efforts to address tribal communites’ needs

Weekly flight operations scheduled

There will be field carrier landing practice operations for aircraft… Continue reading

Milan Pohl of Port Angeles points out the features of a greenhouse he built to cover a portion of his plot at the Fifth Street Community Garden in Port Angeles. Pohl said on Friday that the greenhouse and a twin structure on an adjoining bed would be used to grow eggplant, peppers and other heat-loving plants. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Community garden plot

Milan Pohl of Port Angeles points out the features of a greenhouse… Continue reading

x
Nominations open for Community Service awards

Forms due March 25; event scheduled for May 1

Influenza numbers trending down in Clallam, Jefferson counties

Public health officer says it’s not too late for vaccine

NOAA lease in Port Angeles on list of terminations

A lease held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric… Continue reading

Tyler Leisten.
Leisten gradutes from basic law enforcement academy

Tyler Leisten has graduated from the Washington State Basic… Continue reading