Blimp helps UO document medicine wheels in Oregon
EUGENE, Ore. - Efforts to document the first Native American Medicine Wheels ever reported in Oregon - led by Patrick O'Grady of the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History - will be featured on Oregon Public Broadcasting's "Oregon Field Guide" television program at 8:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 23.
O'Grady, an archaeologist with the UO archaeology field school, has been using aerial photography to document the medicine wheels, which are large circular stone formations, sometimes with spokes radiating from the center.
Researchers believe Native peoples may have used them for ceremonial or religious purposes.
The story starts in 2007, when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) discovered two large stone circles in the Stinkingwater Mountains of southeastern Oregon. Their importance was immediately recognized and brought to the attention of the University of Oregon....