The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee is recommending the return of artifacts to the Tlingit community in Alaska.

The committee said the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology "does not have right of possession" to about 40 items, including sacred Tlingit artifacts. Most of the items were obtained in 1924 by Louis Shotridge, a Tlingit man who worked at the university.

"He did a great job for the museum in terms of acquiring or taking collections. And I guess he believed he was doing the right thing by preserving it," Rosita Worl, who is Tlingit, told The Anchorage Daily News. "Whereas a good Tlingit wouldn't do that. They would see the most important thing is it's used in our ceremonies and see it as sacred objects. Which they are."

Worl serves as chair of the NAGPRA review committee. She didn't participate in the the case, the first from Alaska to reach the board.

The Hoonah Indian Association and Huna Totem Corp. are seeking the items. The university says it obtained them legally -- although it has offered to return eight objects and have the Tlingts serve as co-curators of the collection.

The final decision about the items will be made by the Interior Department.

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Museum told to return Alaska Tlingit artifacts (The Anchorage Daily News 11/29)