A New Museum for the Tunica Treasure
The Tunica-Biloxi Tribe’s history is richly told by the archaeological wonders housed in its new museum and cultural center.
The early morning quietness of an encampment overlooking the Mississippi River would erupt into chaos as the Natchez Indians attacked the Tunica Indians in June of 1731. The French had defeated and scattered the Natchez on the field of battle, but had not destroyed them. The Tunica were great traders and valued their relationship with the French. Apparently, the remaining Natchez harbored deep resentment against their old enemies, the Tunica, for their military assistance to the French and had been secretly plotting revenge. In fact, just hours before the attack, knowing full well what was to come, a group of Natchez ate and partied with the Tunica. With no warning, the raid would be devastating and at the end of the attack many would lay dead including Cahura-Joligo, the Tunica’s Chief.
The tribe would mourn and honor its dead, burying with them their most prized possessions. The Tunica gravesite would contain over a hundred members of the tribe along with Cahura-Joligo. We know now that this sacred Tunica ground was located near Angola Prison on what is now the Old Trudeau Plantation in Tunica, Louisiana.
The Tunica stayed in the Trudeau area for another sixty years then moved across the Mississippi River to settle near Marksville, Louisiana. Due to the changing course of the river over time, the exact location of Chief Cahura-Joligo’s tomb was lost. For 240 years the Chief lay in peace until a hot summer day in 1968 when Leonard Charrier, an Angola Prison guard from Bunkie, Louisiana, walked through the fields of the Old Trudeau Plantation, metal detector in hand. Charrier found the gravesite containing the tomb of Chief Cahura-Joligo and at least a hundred other graves. He then proceeded to indiscriminately dig these graves and claim the treasures for himself—destroying a Tunica sacred burial ground in the process.
For the next two years, according to allegations later made in litigation, Charrier looted the Tunica graves, storing the artifacts in his house in Bunkie. Charrier wanted to sell “his” treasure and on September 10, 1970, the collection left Charrier’s Bunkie home for the Peabody Museum of Harvard University in Massachusetts—but the sale could never be finalized. Charrier couldn’t provide proof of ownership.
Flash back to the early 1920’s, when the Tunica-Biloxi tribe attempted to establish itself as an officially recognized tribe by the U.S. Government. During the sixty-year fight for this recognition the distinction was repeatedly denied because of a lack of evidence for the tribe’s existence in earlier years.
Ironically, the myriad artifacts looted by Charrier from the Tunica burial site allowed the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe to prove its case. Charrier had filed suit trying to establish ownership of the artifacts unearthed from the Old Trudeau Plantation. The state had countered the suit, and after gaining official recognition from the U.S. on July 27, 1981, the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe joined the state efforts and won a judgment awarding the artifacts to the tribe. Even on appeal, the court ruled in favor of the tribe stating, “The intent in interring objects with the deceased is that they will remain there perpetually, and not that they are available for someone to recover and possess as owner.”
After years of court fights, highs and lows of ownership, and artifacts moving from the Peabody Museum to the Cabildo Museum in New Orleans—the “Tunica Treasure” was returned to the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe in Marksville in the summer of 1989.
Overjoyed with having their treasure returned, the Tunica-Biloxi soon realized the artifacts were in grave need of restoration.
Bill Day, anthropologist and Director of Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Historic Preservation, sought advice from professional conservators.
“Can these ceramics be saved?” he asked and if so, “How much will it cost?”
The good news was that many of the artifacts could be saved; the bad news was that it would cost between one and a half to two million dollars. Once again, the tribe was in a fight for their treasure, only now it was a race against time to save it from further deterioration and loss.
Day knew it would be difficult, yet he knocked on doors from Shreveport to New Orleans asking for donations for the restoration. He raised enough funds to purchase two refrigerator truck trailers to serve as the conservation laboratory. Finally, restoration could begin. Experts were identified and brought in to evaluate and train members of the tribe on techniques to properly restore artifacts, and the enormous task began. Noted archeologists called the Tunica Treasure the greatest archeological find in the lower Mississippi valley, and one of the greatest archeological finds of the twentieth century.
There were some artifacts not in need of restoration, and a 1200 square foot museum was built to house them in the form of a sixteenth-century Tunica village burial mound, with a temple above it like those in which Tunica priests lived. The museum had earthen walls so that the artifacts could be symbolically reburied. Unfortunately, water intrusion caused foundation instability and cost prohibitive repairs so the structure was torn down in 1999.
Once again the magnificent Tunica Treasure was without a home. Over the course of the next ten years, a vast multi-functional center was conceived and constructed to not only house the tribe’s artifacts, but to allow the continued restoration of objects—a place to meet, research, and educate. On November 30, 2011, the Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center was dedicated including a new museum for the Tunica Treasure. The center protects the heritage of the tribe and serves as a resource for the Tunica-Biloxi today and into the future.
“The museum will offer a more in-depth look at the history of the tribes for visitors to Avoyelles Parish,” explained Earl Barbry, Sr., Chairman of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe, at the grand opening. Included in this multipurpose facility is a highly sophisticated conservation laboratory with Brent Barbry, Lab Director, leading the restoration work.
You can’t be in a hurry when restoring historic artifacts, explained Barbry, who gained experience through years of apprenticing, education, and hands on work. “I’ve been restoring artifacts for twenty years and I have not lost anything—it takes time.”
Each artifact must be documented and photographed before the restoration process, then photographed again once restored. According to Barbry the lab uses the “6-6” method of restoration. Up close you can tell the item has been repaired, but “from six feet you can’t tell it’s been restored.” Depending on the artifact, the restoration can take up to eighteen months.
Once restored, some artifacts are placed in a controlled environment area and others are put on display in the museum.
We stood in awe looking at a French ceramic pitcher from the 1600s. Then, realizing how many other European items are in the Tunica Treasure, you begin to comprehend the uniqueness of this archeological find that sheds light on the unique blending of cultures that happened here.
On that fateful morning in June 1731, Chief Cahura-Joligo could not have realized that over two and a half centuries after his death he would be instrumental in validating the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe and establishing a state of the art conservation laboratory and museum to honor his life and that of the Tunica-Biloxi.
Details. Details. Details.
Tunica-Biloxi Cultural and Educational Resources Center
151 Melacon Road
Marksville, La.
(318) 240-6400
Open Monday—Friday, 9 am–noon and 1 pm–4 pm.
$5 adults; $4 seniors; $3 ages 9-12; Free 8 and under.