FROM THE ARCHIVE
URL: https://www.indianz.com/News/archives/002913.asp
Commentary: Native people should not own ancestors
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
"America is forceful about repatriation. In 1990, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was passed. It is a mandate for researchers and museums to return all human remains to their closest hereditary or cultural descendants who decide the future of the bones. There has been a brutal impact upon collections. Backed by government, museums have sent back vital material to be covered in soil. Bill Billick from the Repatriation Office at the Smithsonian in Washington DC told me that, �to date we have sent back 3,300 human remains and 87,000 objects.� These objects are �associated� with the remains, probably funerary items. 1,500 remains have been offered by the Smithsonian but are unclaimed. Once offered, even if unwanted, researchers are forbidden from working on them without permission from the tribe. " Get the Story:
Who owns human remains? (Open Democracy 12/4)
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