How Poarch Creek Indians Helped Give a 32-Million-Year-Old Fossil a Voice in Muscogee
Share this:
When a team of paleontologists uncovered the remains of a 2-million-year-old turtle on ancestral Creek land, they had no idea the fossil would lead to something even more significant than the discovery itself: a bridge between ancient science and the Muscogee (spelled in traditional Creek as “Mvskoke”) language. Through Samantha Martin’s efforts, this amazing discovery now carries not just a new scientific name, but a voice from the past.
Samantha Martin, Creek Language Coordinator with the Poarch Creek Indians Cultural Department, was called upon for a task that would turn out to be both professionally and personally monumental. As a passionate language preservationist, she was tasked with helping to name the fossil in Muscogee, the traditional language of her people.
“At first, it was just another request for translation,” Samantha admits. “We get those all the time in the Language Department. But once I started to understand the weight of the fossil’s uniqueness, and that it could be the first and only fossil ever to carry a Muscogee name, it became something much more.”
The project began when Dr. Andrew Gentry, paleontologist with the Learning Campus in Gulf Shores, reached out for linguistic assistance. What followed was weeks of emails, Zoom calls, and brainstorming sessions between Samantha and Dr. Gentry, as well as her friend and Muscogee speaker, Marcus Briggs-Cloud. Together, they worked to find a name that honored the cultural roots of the land where the fossil was found, while also complying with the strict Latin-based naming confines of the scientific community.
Members of the extraction team preparing to transport the Ueloca fossil by boat. Left to right: Josh Goff, Miller Nama, Jun Ebersole, Corey Harper, Charles Nichols, Andrew Gentry Credit: Erik Lizee
Samantha Martin, Creek Language Coordinator with the Poarch Creek Indians Cultural Department, was called upon for a task that would turn out to be both professionally and personally monumental. As a passionate language preservationist, she was tasked with helping to name the fossil in Muscogee, the traditional language of her people.
“At first, it was just another request for translation,” Samantha admits. “We get those all the time in the Language Department. But once I started to understand the weight of the fossil’s uniqueness, and that it could be the first and only fossil ever to carry a Muscogee name, it became something much more.”
The project began when Dr. Andrew Gentry, paleontologist with the Learning Campus in Gulf Shores, reached out for linguistic assistance. What followed was weeks of emails, Zoom calls, and brainstorming sessions between Samantha and Dr. Gentry, as well as her friend and Muscogee speaker, Marcus Briggs-Cloud. Together, they worked to find a name that honored the cultural roots of the land where the fossil was found, while also complying with the strict Latin-based naming confines of the scientific community.