Sunday Eiselt
picuris legal work
In early 2003, while I was working on my dissertation, I came into contact with Dr. Elizabeth Brandt of Arizona State University. She learned about my work, and asked if I would be interested in looking into Picuris Pueblo micaceous pottery in connection with a lawsuit in which she was involved as an expert. I was familiar with Picuris as a center of micaceous clay pottery production, and much of the information that I had developed in the course of preparing my dissertation was relevant to Picuris pottery. Because the Picuris project was of interest to me, and would give me an additional area in which to apply the techniques I had developed in the Jicarilla study, I agreed to become involved in the Picuris project.
In early 2004, I was retained as an expert witness for the Pueblo by their legal team, Rothstein, Donatelli, Hughes, Dahlstrom and Schoenburg, LLP of Santa Fe New Mexico. Work for the Picuris project involved the collection of additional raw clay samples surrounding the Pueblo and the addition of Picuris Pueblo ceramics to the geochemical database developed as part of my dissertation. In late 2004, in part as a result of its lawsuit, Picuris regained ownership of the Molo nan na source area, and in 2006 the Pueblo was awarded a substantial financial settlement for recovery of damages including the removal of mica ore and the destruction of traditional clay pits.
Final Report (PDF 5.21 MB)
Note: Raw geochemical data and UTM locations are removed from this report at the request of pottery consultants. Please contact me directly for additional information.
News articles and press releases
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Article
Picuris Pueblo Demonstrates to Draw Attention to Proposed Expansion of Mica Mine
Indianz.com articles
