tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17366567593946553332024-03-21T22:22:35.955-07:00NAGPRA & UCBOriginally a place for information and tools to protest against UC Berkeley's elimination of
its Autonomous NAGPRA (Native American Graves and Repatriation Act) Unit, this site documents what is happening with the collection at the Hearst, and the UCOP Repatriation Committee's rulings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-64302551873805543022020-12-29T16:05:00.000-08:002020-12-29T16:05:17.122-08:00Does anything ever change?Okay, we've been quiet for over 5 years, and the latest news is--
https://www.dailycal.org/2020/12/05/grave-robbing-at-uc-berkeley-a-history-of-failed-repatriation/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-50142364331020496412013-05-19T16:53:00.003-07:002013-05-19T16:54:09.577-07:00Of course there is a UC tieA grisly reminder of the way archaeology was done in Califronia at times:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324683/The-strange-mysterious-Dr-Glidden-Callousness-archaeologist-raided-hundreds-Native-American-graves-set-macabre-museum-remembered-California.html
<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324683/The-strange-mysterious-Dr-Glidden-Callousness-archaeologist-raided-hundreds-Native-American-graves-set-macabre-museum-remembered-California.html"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-40491973148008621162013-01-18T21:25:00.001-08:002013-01-18T21:25:45.608-08:00Will the incoming Chancellor to UC Berkeley change the Hearst's stance on repatriation or maintain the status quo?
<a href="http://http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22074074/university-california-regents-consider-appointing-nicholas-dirks-uc?source=pkg"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-81043806191062010872012-05-06T19:28:00.003-07:002012-05-06T19:28:49.916-07:00More on the Kumeyaay repatriation case:
<a href="http://http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/24/dispute-erupts-over-ancient-human-remains-found/">http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/24/dispute-erupts-over-ancient-human-remains-found/
</a>
<a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/05/ancient-american-skeletons-safe.html?ref=hp"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-89878408480993404572012-05-06T19:26:00.001-07:002012-05-06T19:26:39.092-07:00Now the Irish came to America 8500+ years ago:
“These are not Native Americans,” said James McManis, the San Jose lawyer for the professors. “We’re sure where they’re from. They had primarily a seafood diet, not the diet if any way of these tribes. They were a seafaring people. They could be traveling Irishman who touched on the continent.
“The idea that we’re going to turn this incredible treasure over to some local tribe because they think it’s grandma’s bones is crazy.”
Read it all at:
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/24/dispute-erupts-over-ancient-human-remains-found/
(And who does this guy represent in Federal court???)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-87191574308689571082012-01-16T21:23:00.001-08:002012-01-16T21:24:38.876-08:00Michigan works on coming cleanAlrighty, the Univ. of Michigan is working on coming clean, what about UCB?<br /><br />Check out:<br /><br />http://www.energypublisher.com/a/UPOVCFIWLE46/66624-University-of-Michigan-to-comply-with-law-on-Native-American-remains<br /><br />or<br /><br /><br />http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-sets-formal-policy-for-returning-remains-to-native-americans/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-54700994904595462072011-09-25T09:57:00.000-07:002011-09-25T09:58:37.658-07:00Smithsonian in the newsGAO Finds that Smithsonian Institution May Still Take Several More Decades to Repatriate Native American Remains and Objects<br /> <br /><br />WASHINGTON, June 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Smithsonian Institution's process to repatriate thousands of Native American human remains and funerary objects in its collections is lengthy and resource intensive and it may take several more decades to return items to tribes under its current system, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). <br /><br />This GAO report is the second of a two-part, three-year effort to examine how publicly funded institutions are complying with the two federal laws that direct repatriation to Native Americans. Last year the GAO examined the repatriation work of eight key Federal agencies and the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).<br /><br />According to the GAO report, Smithsonian Institution: Much Work Still Needed to Identify and Repatriate Indian Human Remains and Objects, examiners suggested that Congress should consider ways to expedite the repatriation process and that the Board of Regents considers four administrative changes.<br /><br />In 1989, Congress passed a law that created a repatriation process for the Smithsonian Institution; two of the institution's 19 galleries and museums hold important collections of Native American human remains and sacred objects. The law also created the National Museum of the American Indian. Though not certain of the exact number, the Smithsonian states it has about 20,000 catalog records of Native American human remains plus many more catalog records of cultural objects held at the National Museum of Natural History and the American Indian museum. Only a quarter of these have been repatriated to the rightful Native Indian owners, according to the GAO report released in May.<br /><br />In addition to not regularly reporting to Congress, federal auditors said the repatriation process is lengthy and resource intensive. Both museums use a two-step repatriation process that starts with a printout from an electronic catalogue system that lists human remains and cultural objects that is sent to the tribe. The Indian tribe is then required to file a claim to either museum indicating their interest. Only then does the museum begin a lengthy process of using the "best available information" to build a case report that may or may not recommend repatriation. This process requires an Indian tribe to review thousands of electronic records, which, many times do not contain all relevant information.<br /><br />rest at<br /><br />http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gao-finds-that-smithsonian-institution-may-still-take-several-more-decades-to-repatriate-native-american-remains-and-objects-123738549.htmlUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-58110353202847028002011-09-12T19:01:00.000-07:002011-09-12T19:04:24.202-07:00Kenniwick ManAny surprise??? And really, what has come out of the Hearst's collection the last 5 years? Earthshaking research? <br /><br />##########################<br /><br />“Has there been any new information gained from human remains known as Kennewick Man or the Ancient One?”<br /><br />Prior to any court rulings, a thorough examination of the skeletal remains was conducted by independent scientists contracted by the government in 1998-2000. The complete results of their studies are available online. This report includes the physical examination of the remains, radiocarbon dating, and initial attempts to extract DNA from the remains, which failed.<br /><br />In 2002, Judge Jelderks ruled that the remains did not fit the definition of “Native American” under Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This decision was primarily based on the fact that the human remains, based on their antiquity, could not be clearly connected with any present day Native American tribe. This decision was appealed by the government and later upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2004. The scientists who took part as plaintiffs in the case have since studied the remains on three separate occasions between 2004 and 2006. Other than popular articles, the recent research conducted by the plaintiff scientists has not been published in scientific journals.<br /><br />rest at<br /><br />http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2011/07/09/what-has-kennewick-man-taught-us-so-far/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-27904289235778893002011-08-22T20:57:00.000-07:002011-08-22T20:58:47.007-07:00More on the UCSD situationEver since the remains of three ancient humans were unearthed in 1976 on property owned by the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), the Kumeyaay people have been engaged in a complex battle to have the remains repatriated to them. This would be against the wishes of many University of California (UC) scientists, who want to keep them for further study, a stance that is now opposed by UCSD administrators. But after decades of wrangling, recent actions by UCSD and the scientists who oppose repatriation have brought the remains once again into the spotlight.
<br />
<br />The site of UCSD, on the bluffs of La Jolla in north San Diego County overlooking the Pacific Ocean, is some of the world’s prime real estate, but for the 12 bands of the Kumeyaay Nation, it has been part of their ancestral territory for at least 10,000 years, and likely longer. In 1976, three unusual burials (two adults and a child) were exposed by erosion at the university chancellor’s house (also known as University House)—unusual for how well-preserved they were, and how old they are. Archeologists estimate the remains at between 9,000 and 9,600 years old, making them possibly the oldest uncovered human remains in the continental United States. To archeologists like Eske Willerslev at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, they are the “crown jewels of the peopling of the Americas.” For the Kumeyaay, the “find” was yet another in a long line of desecrations at the site. The house has since been declared unlivable due to a variety of code violations, and recent plans to renovate the house have been hampered, in part because a draft environmental impact report revealed more burials on the site, causing it to be declared a “sanctified cemetery” by the state in 2008.
<br />
<br />rest at
<br />
<br />http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/burial-site-battle-pits-kumeyaay-against-scientists/
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-88414936321292949972011-07-18T21:26:00.000-07:002011-07-18T21:28:23.442-07:00Glen Cove settlement reachedVallejo compromises on park at Indian burial site<br /><br />Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer<br /><br />Saturday, July 16, 2011<br />Print E-mail Share Comments (30) Font | Size: <br />278<br /><br />Brant Ward / The Chronicle<br /><br />Spiritual leader Fred Short emerges from his teepee at Glen Cove Park, where protesters had camped, on Thursday. The city agreed Friday to share development rights with two tribes.<br /><br />Vallejo officials agreed this week to dramatically scale back plans for a park on an American Indian burial ground, in response to protesters who have been camped on the site for three months.<br /><br />The Vallejo parks board and City Council agreed to share development rights of Glen Cove park with two Northern California tribes whose ancestors likely lived there. The deal means the tribes must agree to development of the site, including restrooms, trails and other amenities protesters have been fighting.<br /><br />The agreement caps a 12-year battle over Glen Cove, a 15-acre plot along Carquinez Strait. The park district planned for picnic tables, a parking lot, bathrooms, benches, an extension of the Bay Trail and the replacement of nonnative plants with natives.<br /><br />The district planned to break ground on the $1.3 million project in April, but before the bulldozers rolled in, American Indians and their supporters erected teepees, tents and a campfire, claiming the ground was sacred.<br /><br />Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/07/15/BA2A1KB72R.DTL#ixzz1SWR8FDGpUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-86203034717766297292011-06-15T05:57:00.000-07:002011-06-15T05:58:47.138-07:00More on Glen CoveHeard Around the West<br /><br /><br />A Just West<br />Paving over an ancient burial ground<br />Document Actions<br /><br /><br />Marc Dadigan | Jun 09, 2011 01:00 PM<br /><br />15-acres of undeveloped landscape sits as an oasis among the undulating, cookie cutter housing developments that crowd the edges of the Carquinez Strait, a natural tidal channel in Vallejo, California.<br /><br />At this spot, known as Glen Cove Waterfront Park, a swath of yellow grass, dappled with the woody stems of wild fennel, leads to the water’s edge where Eucalyptus trees tower above marshy banks. The occasional clatter of trundling trains across the strait is the only sound that breaks the peace.<br /><br />For many local residents, it’s a calming place away from the sprawled-out landscape that expands from the Bay Area.<br /><br />rest at<br /><br />http://www.hcn.org/greenjustice/blog/paving-over-an-ancient-burial-groundUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-59316376433799515042011-05-21T06:38:00.000-07:002011-05-21T06:40:44.437-07:00UC vs. the KumeyaayScience letter co-author Tim White, a prominent paleoanthropologist at UC Berkeley, told Wired.com, “Administrators are doing everything they can to ignore the scientific value of the specimens. They are trying to illegally repatriate them to a lobbyist for a dozen San Diego County tribes.”<br /><br />UC officials are seeking to provide the skeletons to the Kumeyaay Nation east of San Diego under a complex process guided by the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). But critical scientists say NAGPRA requirements aren’t being followed properly, setting the stage for a potential legal battle over the bones.<br /><br />“This is Kennewick Man II,” White said, referring to the long federal court battle in 2004 when scientists won the right to study bones found in Washington.<br /><br />In a May 11 letter, Mark Yudof, president of the 10-campus UC system, authorized UCSD chancellor Marye Anne Fox to dispose of the bones — after clarifications are made to a report done under NAGPRA requirements, and other tribes that may be interested in the bones are consulted.<br /><br />Steve Benegas, the repatriation spokesman for the Kumeyaay nation’s 12 tribes, said they are entitled to the bones and to decide about future analysis. Some Native Americans believe scientific research amounts to desecration of remains, and Benegas said he personally is against studies.<br /><br />full article at:<br /><br />http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/05/ucsd-skeleton-fight/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-82799819144016293552011-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:002011-05-17T19:12:44.089-07:00UC Santa Cruz's turn???weeping a People’s Past Under the Rug<br />The UC continues government crimes against Native Americans<br />By City on a Hill Press<br />City on a Hill Press<br />Published May 12, 2011 at 3:52 am<br /><br />Illustration by Muriel Gordon.<br /><br />Native Americans have a long history of oppression in this country. Their land was taken, their people murdered and their sacred sites corrupted, all for the sake of building the United States. A new form of this old oppression is still happening, and the University of California is playing a role.<br /><br />In this issue’s feature story, “Forgotten but not Gone,” it is confirmed that the University of California, and UC Santa Cruz in particular, is in possession of Native American artifacts and burial remains. The question of where and what those remains are is left unanswered.<br /><br />Keeping Native American remains is problematic for a number of reasons. It means that graves were disrupted to obtain these remains, which is disrespectful to any culture. And to make matters worse, many Native American tribes believe that disruption of burial sites can cause spiritual trouble.<br /><br />rest at<br /><br /><br />http://www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/05/12/sweeping-a-peoples-past-under-the-rug/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-35675067056008150762011-04-16T08:09:00.001-07:002011-04-16T08:11:04.719-07:00Glen Cove ProtestThis battle has been going on for awhile, but its ramped up in recent weeks. For details, check out--<br /><br />http://protectglencove.org/<br /><br />http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2011/04/15/native-american-activists-occupy-contested-vallejo-park-site/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-31522482074508675322011-02-06T05:55:00.000-08:002011-02-06T05:57:20.994-08:00One university comes cleanAt least Weselyan University comes clean and tries to comply, see:<br /><br />http://wesleyanargus.com/2011/02/01/university-takes-steps-to-begin-complying-with-nagpra/<br /><br />When will the Hearst and UC Berkeley?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-6692515861559044832010-11-27T06:49:00.000-08:002010-11-27T06:52:24.564-08:00Respect for the dead?!Let's see the AAM and others are against the display of Native American remains. Okay, so the Hearst doesn't put any on public display, but they gladly display them via DELPHI...<br /><br /> <br />http://pahma.berkeley.edu/delphi/object/108373<br /> <br />http://pahma.berkeley.edu/delphi/object/108374<br /> <br />http://pahma.berkeley.edu/delphi/object/108375<br /><br />Hmm, over-reacting on our part? A double standard on the Hearst's part? Or a case of what where they thinking? Either way, it will be interesting to see how long these stay up!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-36921910378447075112010-11-25T06:14:00.000-08:002010-11-25T06:15:34.202-08:00More Univ. of Michigan newsU-M adopts ‘consultation first’ approach on transfer of Native human remains<br />By Staff reports<br /><br />Story Published: Nov 24, 2010<br /><br />Story Updated: Nov 23, 2010<br /><br />ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan will take a “consultation first” approach to all interactions with American Indian tribes as the university further develops its policies and procedures for the transfer of Native American human remains.<br /><br />Vice President for Research Stephen Forrest established the approach as part of his announcement that he has accepted the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Culturally Unidentifiable Human Remains.<br /><br />The 12-member committee submitted nine recommendations that suggested a process for how the university might handle requests for the transfer of human remains and associated funerary objects now being held by the U-M Museum of Anthropology. The report was submitted Sept. 16.<br /><br />Forrest accepted those recommendations, with some modifications, after weighing feedback he received during a month-long period of public comment during October.<br /><br />rest at<br /><br />http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/greatlakes/U-M-adopts-consultation-first-approach-on-the-transfer-of-Native-American-human-remains-110193329.htmlUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-31752361645086073192010-10-12T03:04:00.000-07:002010-10-12T03:05:27.501-07:00Cal NAGPRA20 years after the inauguration of the National Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), California’s own NAGPRA law (or Cal NAGPRA) has been effectively quashed by a lack of state funding.<br /><br />Cal NAGPRA was enacted in 2001 in an attempt to force California institutions with large Native American collections to return objects to their culturally affiliated descendants. The bill (AB 978) aimed to “streamline and add an accountability step to the repatriation process” to both federally and non-federally recognized tribes. Unlike other states, California does not have a process of recognition for federally unrecognized tribes. Consequently, the state has over a hundred such tribes, the highest number in the country.<br /><br />The legislation was conceived after several university museums, particularly UC Berkley’s Hearst Museum, were accused by Native American tribal leaders of sidestepping National NAGPRA regulations and ignoring local tribal demands for the return of hundreds of thousands of sacred objects and ancestral remains.<br /><br />“The bill came about because tribes were not consulted by the universities to establish cultural affiliations with property and remains,” said Lalo Franco of the Yokut/Wukchumni Nations and the cultural heritage director of the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe. <br /><br />rest at<br /><br />http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The+end+of+Cal+Nagpra%3F/21690Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-63613476808206373602010-10-07T19:45:00.000-07:002010-10-07T19:46:58.745-07:00SCIENCE MAGAZINE on the NAGPRA lawsWe hope the tribes log in and give their two cents worth...<br /><br />#####################################################<br /><br /><br />From AAAS. You can see the articles with a free online registration.<br /> <br />Here is the link: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/returning-tribal-remains.html<br /><br /><br /><br />Has NAGPRA (the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act) been good or bad for archaeology? We at Science have done a special news package on the law's impact, timed for its 20th anniversary. And because the law sparks passionate views on research and Native rights, we are hosting an online discussion on ScienceNOW, our online daily news site. Our reporters and editors will be monitoring comments and posting their views over the next day or so. Given your interests, we would like to particularly invite you to join the discussion. If you go to http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/returning-tribal-remains.html it's easy to participate. We look forward to hearing your comments.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-39190065819128562762010-09-18T05:19:00.000-07:002010-09-18T05:21:03.174-07:00Tribes sue over the Ruby PipelineFor more than two years the Northern Paiute including Nevada's Fort McDermot and Summit Lake Paiute tribes and the California's Fort Bidwell tribe have lobbied to divert the pipeline around their traditional lands in northwest Nevada. Dean Barlese, a cultural and spiritual guide at the Summit Lake Reservation, says, "We're not against the pipeline. It's just the route has taken it through some of the most pristine areas still left in Nevada." He says the BLM and other federal agencies conducted inadequate consultations with the tribes.<br /><br />Aaron Townsend, vice chair of the Fort Bidwell tribal council, says a pipeline man camp has gone up just south of an area where the pipeline will bisect "house rings, burials, prayer sites – you name it, we've got everything – obsidian quarries, petroglyphs." He describes looting of cultural sites as people hear about archaeological resources along the pipeline corridor. The Fort Bidwell tribe recently filed a petition for review over the BLM's approved right-of-way for the pipeline.<br /><br />Read the entire article at:<br /><br />http://www.hcn.org/hcn/blogs/goat/more-surprises-flow-from-ruby-pipelineUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-21069886325519481792010-08-13T18:14:00.000-07:002010-08-13T18:16:22.336-07:00What's up with the Hearst?While the Smithsonian repatriates cultural patrimony and sacred objects to the<br />Yurok, what is the story with the Hearst?<br /><br />#########<br /><br /> The Smithsonian Institution has returned a trove of precious artifacts to the Yurok Indians in California in what is one of the largest repatriations of Native American ceremonial artifacts in U.S. history.<br /><br />The Yurok, who have lived for centuries along California's Klamath River, received 217 sacred items that had been stored on museum shelves for nearly 100 years. The necklaces, headdresses, arrows, hides and other regalia from the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian are believed to be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.<br /><br />"It's awesome. It's a big thing with our people," said Thomas O'Rourke, chairman of the Yurok, a tribe that lived next to the Klamath River in far Northern California for 10,000 years before Europeans arrived. "These are our prayer items. They are not only symbols, but their spirit stays with them. They are alive. Bringing them home is like bringing home prisoners of war."<br /><br />To celebrate the return of the items, the Yurok will hold a Kwom-Shlen-ik, or "Object Coming Back," ceremony today in the town of Klamath.<br /><br />The returned artifacts were sold to the museum in the 1920s by Grace Nicholson, a renowned collector of Indian art, who owned a curio shop in Pasadena in the early 20th century. Ceremonial Indian regalia was in vogue among wealthy Americans at the time.<br /><br />The sacred cache is part of an ongoing effort around the country to return Native American burial artifacts, ceremonial items and remains taken by white settlers from Indian villages and indigenous sites.<br /><br />Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2010%2F08%2F13%2FMN0O1ET3EI.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0wXSeX1yYUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-30398252884703753752010-07-19T21:01:00.000-07:002010-07-19T21:10:44.761-07:00Oops, forget something? (Part 2)You really have to give it to the Hearst and their clunky on-line museum catalog.<br />Once again, while they seem to be in a hurry and get a less than perfect search engine out there, they seem to have forgotten their NAGPRA obligations. <br /><br />Take for example, catalog numbers of human remains from the Cardinal Site (SJo-154):<br /><br />12-11273 through 12-11307<br /><br />http://pahma.berkeley.edu/delphi/modules/browser/details.php?onum=12-11299<br /><br />Once again, search the National NAGPRA database at the NPS. Take a guess what is missing from the culturally unidentified database...<br /><br />Like we said before 43 CFR 10.11 can only work when the museums come clean on <br />what they are holding. <br /><br />(PS--why do some people at the university also insist the Hearst has not taken in human remains since the 1970s when these were accessioned in the mid-1980s?)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-41870379390164399022010-06-07T05:38:00.000-07:002010-06-07T05:48:04.306-07:00Oops, forget something? (Part 1)The clunky new search engine at the museum's website can be quite handy at times.<br /><br />For example, look up 2-13845. Here is the link to what you will find:<br /><br />http://pahma.berkeley.edu/delphi/modules/browser/details.php?onum=2-13845<br /><br />Interesting to note, this has still yet to be registered with the National NAGPRA<br />database. I guess they assume scalps were freely taken...<br /><br />40 CFR 10.11 can only work if the museums are honest in the first place!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-2808787099532855122010-06-06T20:42:00.000-07:002010-06-06T20:46:01.140-07:00UM news (again)Returning Them To Their Tribe - Michigan Museums Returning Native American Remains Charles Manley <br /> <br />The University of Michigan's Museum of Anthropology has a collection of around 1,400 ancient Native American remains. But they'll lose those remains under a new federal law - and the ability to conduct research with them.<br /><br />The room that stores the remains of about 1,400 Native Americans is on the ground floor of a non-descript building on campus, but it looks more like a basement. Rows of industrial shelving hold 24-inch long white cardboard boxes - lengthy enough to accommodate the longest human bone - a femur. Each box has a label of a human skeleton on its side, indicated by highlighter which bones the box contains.<br /><br />Carla Sinopoli is the curator of the Museum of Anthropology. She says early archaeologists had basic questions - 'how old is it?' 'how did they get their food?'. But now they ask all kinds of questions.<br /><br />"How societies are formed, how beliefs are structured, how communities communicate and move," says Sinopoli, "Political questions, social questions, idealogical questions, economic questions...and the more we know the sophisticated our questions become too."<br /><br />Even DNA research of human remains is relatively new. Sinopoli says there's no telling what could be learned in twenty or thirty years. But that room and all the white boxes could soon be empty.<br /><br />The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, was created twenty years ago. The first version required all federally funded museums to take inventories of skeletal remains and try to figure out what Native American groups they belonged to. Many remains were returned to their tribes of origin, but researchers still had something to work with. The remains that couldn't be linked to tribes were left in museums.<br /><br />But the law that went into effect last month requires that those remains be returned to tribes too. Sinopoli says the loss will be a permanent one. <br /><br />http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/michigan/news.newsmain/article/8/0/1658808/Arts..and..Culture/Returning.Them.To.Their.Tribe.-.Michigan.Museums.Returning.Native.American.Remains.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1736656759394655333.post-84969078823725684522010-05-31T06:20:00.000-07:002010-05-31T06:22:28.303-07:00The Rights of the DeadOn May 29th, she will defend her PhD thesis <em>Duties to Past Persons: Moral Standing and Posthumous Interests of Old Human Remains </em>at the Uppsala University in Sweden. Masterton's thesis covers the moral status of past people and our duties towards the dead. <p>“At least in Sweden, the living are protected by laws on genetic integrity. We have no legal obligations to King Tut or other historical persons, but there is perhaps still integrity worth protecting,” says Malin Masterton at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB). </p> <p>In her thesis, Malin Masterton discusses <a href="http://heritage-key.com/egypt/looking-after-mummy-ethics-preserving-human-remains">ethical guidelines for the handling of human remains</a> and makes suggestions for revisions. The basis for these revisions is that the dead also have an identity in the form of a narrative. “I propose that the dead should be given moral status based on our respect for human life,” says Malin Masterton.</p> <p>Whose integrity and interest is it when the person is dead? Malin Masterton argues that parts of a person’s identity remain after death. One way of looking at identity is as a narrative – the story of one’s life – that both stands alone and is interwoven with other people’s stories. Seen like this, the dead too have a name and a reputation worth protecting. So no more calling Helen of Troy a whore, Nero a nitwit or Belzoni a looting circus artist?</p> <p>If the dead, to some degree like the living, have integrity and reputation, they also have moral status and we can wrong them. According to Malin Masterton, we have three duties to the dead:</p> <ul><li><strong>We have a duty of truthfulness in our description of a person’s reputation.</strong></li><li><strong>We have a duty to respect the personal integrity of the dead in research contexts. </strong></li><li><strong>We have a duty to admit wrongs we have committed against the dead, like illegal archaeological digs.</strong> <em></em></li></ul><br />rest at<br /><br />http://heritage-key.com/blogs/ann/do-no-harm-dead-urges-new-thesis-ethics-human-remainsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0