By Sally Pobojewski
News and Information Services
At its November meeting, the Board of Regents authorized the University to negotiate with relevant Native American groups in compliance with a federal law that requires universities and museums to return to Native American groups, upon request, human remains and certain cultural objects shown to be affiliated with each Native American group.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted in 1990.
“Over the past year, the U-M has been preparing a complete inventory of its North American archaeological and ethnographic holdings,” says Homer A. Neal, vice president for research. “The inventory will be submitted to the Secretary of the Interior and we are prepared to pursue negotiations with Native American groups concerning NAGPRA-related items. Initial contacts have already been established with Native American groups for which we may have affiliated remains or items.
“NAGPRA applies to North American burial remains, funerary objects, sacred objects (that is, ceremonial items needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the present day practice of traditional Native American religions) and cultural patrimony (that is, objects having central ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance to a Native American group).”
U-M curators have identified several hundred ethnographic items and 35 collections from archaeological site excavations that can be traced to a specific Native American group and fall under the terms of NAGPRA, according to John M. O’Shea, director and curator of the Museum of Anthropology.
Some of these items were acquired by U-M researchers. Many were donated to the museum by private collectors.
“We’ve notified 35 Native American groups in writing that we believe they have a legitimate claim on specific ethnographic items or site collections,” O’Shea says. “With authorization from the Regents, we hope to begin good-faith negotiations with each group to determine how they would like the material to be handled.”
