Section 9.2 American Sign Language – 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’s traditional territory while his sister Perfect Number lives in the city where she attends university.
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“Just in time for dinner,” said Small Number’s Mother, smiling. “Hurry 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.”
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“I’ll 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.”
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Small Number looked puzzled: “How can you tell if something is a hundred or two hundred years old?” Perfect Number smiled, “We measure and calculate. Those artifacts are precious and belong to all of our people, so you and Big Circle shouldn’t start digging around!”
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“These bushes are too thick,” whispered Small Number. “Let me try to get a bit closer.”
When he finally stopped spinning, Small Number opened his eyes and yelped.
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He was looking into the eyes of a man’s face that appeared stuck in the ground!
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“We learned that a long time ago our ancestors hunted seals and sea lions,” Perfect Number told her brother while they walked towards a tent.
“I've seen seals and sea lions.” Small Number quietly replied, still feeling a bit dizzy from rolling down the hill. “They are such large animals and it must have been very hard to catch them.”
“Yes, 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.”
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She took the stone and very gently started rotating it in her hand. “Very few people can say that they have held an object that was used by our ancestors thousands of years ago.”
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“Big Circle must be still hiding in that bush,” Small Number, slapping his forehead. “I have to run. See you at home!”
He hugged his sister tightly and started running towards the hill.
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Question: How can an artifact reveal its age?
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