http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/25/europe/italy-earthquake-historic-sites-damaged/

As a quick summary, the supplemental reading that I chose describes a devastating earthquake in Italy that destroyed important historical sites. Nearly 300 sites were damaged while 50 were completely destroyed. Specifically, many important religious buildings were damaged, such as the Basilica de San Francesco or Cattedrale di Urbino, an ancient Roman cathedral. Still, the article describes 'solidarity with the population' given the loss of important cultural artifacts, when citing that all proceeds from state museums will be given to the communities hit the hardest. This article shows that even if someone's cultural artifacts may be lost or damaged, their culture still lives on in other forms, as well as in the support of a community.

It's interesting to see the story of a migration like this from the point of view of the Native Americans who were affected by it. I've only ever read history from the point of view of those who wrote it, written and told in a traditional western style and language. It's very different and eye opening to see the story told from the Natives' perspective in their own unique way of storytelling and tradition keeping.

It's excellent that historians are able to communicate with the elders of the tribe. That important link makes it possible to verify information that's garnered from the basket. The definite knowledge of what those symbols mean could be used to decipher the meanings of future baskets when it may not be possible to verify with the tribe itself.

The physical description of the basket is extremely important to the reader, as sometimes a photograph (especially a low quality one such as the one that's presented her) is not enough to fully grasp how much work could have gone into something. The description of the reinforcements on the basket and its sturdiness possibly hint at what the basket could have been used for, perhaps heavier items. The inclusion of decorations on the basket are also especially interesting. The Mohegan's added personality to their work and cared about making it beautiful as well as functional. I also found the lining with newspaper pages to be interesting, as it indicates that the Mohegans also had contact with cultures other than their own. Having a newspaper from Hartford, Connecticut, a fairly large city in 1817, shows that they were not closed off from those who colonized land near theirs not too long before. I found a color photo of a different Mohegan basket that's a bit similar to this one, especially with the cross/medallion pattern.

Western artifacts, especially those that are from the colonials in the United States, tend to be written out and blatantly tell the truth of what happened, at least from the perspective of who wrote it. Mohegans don't decisively lay out the events that occurred because they don't have a written system that would permit them to do so. Instead of simply reading what someone said happened, as is done with recent Western history, when looking at native artifacts it's important to think of what different choices in craft represent in terms of the culture that the artifact came from.

Since white people tend to write history of events, it would make sense that we've convinced ourselves that the natives would immediately leave behind their rich culture for our modern technology. Especially back in the 19th century, many people saw the natives as uncivilized and believed that if they were exposed to the technology of the colonists then they would suddenly become integrated. This is a non-native bias though. The photo below shows the extremely negative stereotypes that white people tend to have, especially back when this propaganda was created.

It's clear from details like this that the natives functioned very much as one unit rather than looking for glory by doings something on their own. Western values, especially at the point in time in which we were colonizing, rest heavily on the idea of glory for one rather than for a whole. The fact that basket making was a group activity that was still fun and culturally rich, including the singing of songs and telling of stories, shows that the natives were truly devoted to each other and their community. It's a far cry from the values of Europeans and even those in the United States at this point in time. This statue of Christopher Columbus shows the Western value of glory, even if the person had help or did terrible things.

The dedication to nature is certainly clear in the way that the Mohegans liked to decorate the basket. Even when painting a specific design, they still incorporated nature into the design.The simple color choice of pink and green suggests at brightly colored flowers and fruits tied in with grass and leaves. It's interesting that they chose to specifically paint those aspects of nature on a piece of art that's also considered a part of the maker's "spiritual force", as mentioned earlier in this piece. It truly shows how much respect Native Americans have for nature and how it's a large part of many of their cultures. The Mohegan tribe actually describes their Wigwam festival in the following source, in which they'd thank the earth for its may gifts. Their love for nature is certainly an important part of their culture. A photo from the festival in modern times is also included.

https://www.mohegan.nsn.us/explore/heritage/wigwam-festival

I think it would actually be extremely hard for the Mohegans to leave their culture behind in the seemingly 'easy' way that McMullen describes. Their culture is so rich that it'd be impossible to leave that culture behind simply because the tribal lands are being left behind. This CNN article about historical treasures and sites in Italy being lost to an earth quake is evidence that the loss of one's cultural grounds and artifacts can definitely be extremely damaging to morale, but it doesn't destroy the culture altogether. It's true that artifacts can be very important to understanding other cultures, especially cultures that had no written language, but members of that culture will come together to preserve the culture that they're proud to be a part of. It's actually a bit insulting to presume that the culture was specifically tied solely to the tribal lands that the Mohegans lived on, as it was a principal of theirs that their culture actually lived within them more that anything (as mentioned at another point in this piece).

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/25/europe/italy-earthquake-historic-sites-damaged/

Even in Western society, specifically around the time that the basket was made, it was considered an integral part of a woman's job as a mother to teach their children. Since there was no written history in terms of Native American culture, the women would teach their children and the community's children about the history of their culture through creation, as opposed to through written word in the western sense. Still, both cultures seem to see it as a woman's responsibility to be a teacher at this point in time, a sort of nurturer. This ideal reminded me a bit of the Western idea of Separate Spheres, wherein men were to be the ones that went out and did the work while the women stayed home and cared for the children while also educating them about current news, philosophy, and history. We learned about this in my history class in high school, but I've found an article online that tells the same story.

https://www.thoughtco.com/separate-spheres-ideology-3529523

I think it's an incredible thing that the natives are focused on projecting pieces of the souls of their community onto the things that they create. On top of being able to look at how the basket was made, historians can also learn a lot about the context that the basket was made in and even learn about the specific person who made the basket. I feel like I can speculate that different basket makers may have different ways of representing the same things, similar to how different writers or poets can use very different metaphors to try and describe the same feeling. Seeing how one person represents an even compared to another can provide different points of view, helping catalog information to decipher artifacts that are found down the road.

It's very important to be able to say decisively that the baskets do, in fact, hold cultural significance to the Mohegans. It would be damaging to try and create an nonexistent narrative by assigning meaning to something that wasn't intended to have meaning to begin with. Once it's been established that the baskets and their decorations were meant to be 'communicative or narrative devices' we can then begin to try and decipher what kind of history is being depicted by the basket.