Section 9.2 American Sign Language 鈥� Small Number and the Old Arrowhead
Written by: Veselin Jungic and Mark MacLean
Illustrated by: Simon Roy
The American Sign Language translation and narration by Dominique Ireland of the Oneida Nation of the Thames
Small Number is a young boy who gets into a lot of mischief. He lives with his parents in a small village on their Nation鈥檚 traditional territory while his sister Perfect Number lives in the city where she attends university.
It is summer time and Small Number and his friend Big Circle spend every day playing and exploring the surroundings of their village. A few days ago, they tripped over an old canoe buried in the sand; yesterday they found the biggest cedar tree that they had ever seen; and today they discovered a beach with an ancient totem pole in the middle of it.
鈥淚 wonder how many more discoveries we will make this summer!鈥� said Small Number to Big Circle while the boys rode their bikes towards the village.
鈥淛ust in time for dinner,鈥� said Small Number鈥檚 Mother, smiling. 鈥淗urry up, wash your hands, and come to the table. Your sister has just arrived and we are all eager to hear what she is going to do over the next few weeks.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檒l be joining a group of my professors and friends from school who are digging on Straight Line Beach. We will look for artifacts that will help us better understand how our culture has changed through time. We are interested in what our ancestors ate, where they harvested food, and how they prepared their food. We would like to know more about what tools our ancestors used and what those tools were made from.鈥�
Small Number looked puzzled: 鈥淗ow can you tell if something is a hundred or two hundred years old?鈥� Perfect Number smiled, 鈥淲e measure and calculate. Those artifacts are precious and belong to all of our people, so you and Big Circle shouldn鈥檛 start digging around!鈥�
The next morning, Small Number rode to Big Circle鈥檚 house.
鈥淭here are people digging on Straight Line Beach. Let鈥檚 hide in the bushes on the hill above the beach and watch what they are doing!鈥�
鈥淭hese bushes are too thick,鈥� whispered Small Number. 鈥淟et me try to get a bit closer.鈥�
He squeezed between the two bushes, tripped over a stone, and suddenly found himself rolling down the hill!
When he finally stopped spinning, Small Number opened his eyes and yelped.
He was looking into the eyes of a man鈥檚 face that appeared stuck in the ground!
Then he heard the voice of a very angry Perfect Number, 鈥淪mall Number, how did you get here? When mom and dad hear about this you will be in real trouble!鈥�
鈥淲ait, Perfect Number,鈥� said the man who was kneeling in the huge hole and whose eyes reached just above its edge. 鈥淐heck if Small Number is OK and then show him around. Maybe you can show him the old bone and stone tools that we found this morning.鈥�
鈥淲e learned that a long time ago our ancestors hunted seals and sea lions,鈥� Perfect Number told her brother while they walked towards a tent.
鈥淚've seen seals and sea lions.鈥� Small Number quietly replied, still feeling a bit dizzy from rolling down the hill. 鈥淭hey are such large animals and it must have been very hard to catch them.鈥�
鈥淵es, but when you catch one you get a lot of meat. In any case, we think that our ancestors at one point switched to eating shellfish and fish.鈥�
Once under the tent, Perfect Number pointed to something on the table that looked like a polished stone. 鈥淭his is a ground slate point. It was probably used as the head of an arrow.鈥�
She took the stone and very gently started rotating it in her hand. 鈥淰ery few people can say that they have held an object that was used by our ancestors thousands of years ago.鈥�
Small Number barely heard his sister鈥檚 voice as he looked at the spinning arrow head with his eyes wide open.
鈥淏ig Circle must be still hiding in that bush,鈥� Small Number, slapping his forehead. 鈥淚 have to run. See you at home!鈥�
He hugged his sister tightly and started running towards the hill.
Perfect Number shook her head smiling and whispered, 鈥淚 love you too, my little brother鈥︹��
Question: How can an artifact reveal its age?
