I was born and raised in Puerto Rico. I remember visiting New York City when I was about 8 years old while attending my mother’s graduate school graduation from Columbia University.
While in New York we visited several museums. As a little girl I was enchanted by learning about past cultures through the pieces of items that someone had unearthed for future generations to see.
At the age of 16 I began my studies at the University of Puerto Rico and I also spent hours at the university museum, again fascinated by the collections of items from the past that were displayed there. Many more times this has been the case as I grew up, always being attracted by knowing more about my ancestors.
In 1984, I moved to Massachusetts. I attended UMass and as part of my studies I took an anthropology class that took me to the beautiful tall library in the middle of the campus. I spent hours reading about the people that came to this land thousands of years ago. And in learning from them I was also learning about us in the present. And in learning from them I also valued what they learned that help evolved into who we are today.
I am absolutely shocked by the idea that a precious finding that dates to possibly 8,000 to 10,000 years ago in Northampton, while doing an excavation to construct a roundabout on North King Street near Hatfield Road, would not be consider a patriotic treasure, a site to be respected and honored, full of life from the past as a gift to us now and for our future generations.
It is inconceivable to me that this historic site will be dismissed as a treasure by covering it up with black asphalt. What kind of principles, values and ethics are we standing by when we make those decisions? And I say we, because if we don’t stand up and defend this patrimony we become part of the problem.
What kind of example are we providing to our children, regardless of their age, to our grandchildren and generations to come by dismissing the opportunity to honor those who came before us? I hope this plan will be reconsidered soon before is too late.
Please, save the area where the prehistoric artifacts were discovered in Northampton.
Lynette Bloise
Pelham