The First Beautiful People: The Shinnecock

Lon S. Cohen

The curator of The Shinnecock Nation Museum & Cultural Center asked me to have a seat while Matauqus finished. Matauqus is the Assistant Curator and Site Manager for the Museum is one of the current Shinnecock residents who have gained knowledge that is almost ten thousand years old. A few Shinnecock are reviving the old ways of their culture. The Museum is becoming the definitive resource on the cultural heritage and history of the Nation as told by the Shinnecock people themselves.

With the establishment of the museum on their reservation they have taken another step to preserve their Algonquin heritage and culture. In honor of their Ancestors, whom the Shinnecock are taught to respect, a carved wood door in the figure of a deer marks the dedication and the entrance to the white pine log building.

"The Native Americans sprang up almost simultaneously all over the Northeast, according to the archeological record," Mr. Martine told me as we waited. "The most ancient records show that the Paleo Projectal Points show that they emerged about ten thousand years ago." For that reason, the Shinnecock must rely on the broken geological records and the customs of their brothers from other tribes in the Northeast to fill in the gaps. (Complete Story)