Ohlone Tribe DNA Found Near Sunol
The Native American tribe who first settled much of the East Bay has found important scientific evidence linking their ancestors to the land as long as 2,700 years ago, according to Muwekma Ohlone spokesman and San Jose State University emeritus professor, Alan Leventhal.
This aids the tribe’s long-time quest to regain federal recognition as a tribe and their hopes to regain some land for surviving members, Leventhal said.
Stanford and University of Illinois researchers recently joined with the tribe to retrieve DNA from ancient human remains found near the Sunol Water Temple, not far from the present-day town of Sunol.
Remains were found near Sunol in two different sites, one dating from 490 B.C. to 1775 A.D., while the other dated from 1345 to 1839 AD. Both starting dates long preceded European settlement in the East Bay.
Tribal vice chairwoman Monica Arellano told the New York Times that the finding had finally validated the tribe, whose recent history had centered around proving they existed in the past and still exist.
The DNA matched key genetic markers found in DNA samples from present-day tribal members, said Stanford University geneticist and biology professor Noah Rosenberg.
The tribe’s recognition had been lost in 1927 when a single federal official later investigated for misconduct dropped the Muwekma and other tribes from a list of surviving tribes, Leventhal said. Legally, only the US Congress can recognize or de-recognize a Native tribe, he added.
Congress had set aside money at the time to buy land for Native tribes whose land had been taken or lost, but other officials insisted the Muwekma no longer needed land because they no longer existed, according to Leventhal.
As late as the 1930s, though, Muwekma children were being cared for at the Mission San Jose orphanage or were being sent to Native boarding schools far from the Bay Area, Leventhal said. Known members of the tribe served in both world wars, and today’s Muwekma members were able to find their grandparents’ names on special native censuses done in 1910 and 1920.
Far Western Anthropological Research Group partnered with the universities and the tribe to uncover remains and analyze them. Articles in scholarly journals showing the results were authored by several members of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, professors, and graduate students at the two universities, and archeologist Brian Byrd of Far Western.
“This project was a unique collaboration of archeologists, anthropologists, genetic researchers, and tribal members all working together,” said Rosenberg.
The next step for the tribe is to get local and state officials to pressure Congress to re-recognize the tribe, Leventhal said. Some in Congress oppose recognizing any more tribes in California
That recognition would then let the federal government buy land in trust for the tribe, which in turn would let the tribe get federal funds to build housing there.
“We want to buy land and keep the tribe going,” Leventhal said.