I would like to put in a few words on Barbara Crandalls behalf here.
While not enrolled in any federally recognized Cherokeee tribe, she was taught by her parents that graves were ringed with water to keep the spirits in. She thought that the ring at Newark was such a structure, and when the Ohio Historical Society decided to renew the lease with the golf course, she led a prayer protest at the main ring a Newark. You have to remember that the Ohio Historical Society is a private organization and not part of the government of Ohio, and thus is bound by neither NAGPRA nor NARFA (the Native American Religious Freedom Act). Thus they could lawfully jail Barbara Crandell and those who were with her.
[I need to mention here what I believe to have been burials which were ringed, at Marietta, at Smithland, and finally one at Piqua at the Johnson trading post, the last two of which were definitely not ringed by Cherokee. I also need to mention here that my understanding now is that the complexes at Newark were used to hold ballgames in the spring and teach the constellations ( White Hawk in Shawnee, the Man who married two star maidens in Cherokee) in the fall. That said, I am pretty certain that there are a couple of "high status" burials within both sites, and that is all that I am going to say on them here.]
