Elder Dialogues on the Sacred at Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site: A Case History of an Intersection of Sacredness and Archaeology

This chapter recounts the history of the intersection of sacredness and archaeology at Jeffers Petroglyphs in Southwest Minnesota’s Cottonwood County. It presents an example of Indigenous-centered archaeological inquiry, discourse, and practices that privileges Indigenous knowledge and rights that is expressed through Indigenous voices. I will review the archaeological explanations for this site made by several archaeologists beginning in 1889 through the present. Although rich in quantifiable data and abstract archaeological ideology, these explanations lack the incorporation of the deep cultural understanding of sacredness held by the people who interacted with these carvings. Also, I will discuss the sacred-based explanation of the carvings at JPHS by Dakota, Arapaho, and Cheyenne elders beginning in 1998 and through the present. For them, archaeology plays a supporting role in helping them to reconstruct their historic cultures. I will share only the knowledge and words of these elders that they wished to be used to educate the public.