Posted on Jun 14, 2023
Kentucky institutions begin to make progress repatriating Native American remains
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Last year, the Filson Historical Society hired Kelly Hyberger under a two-year grant to repatriate the human remains of Native Americans that they kept in storage. At that time, Filson officials knew they had the remains of at least two individuals who, by law, needed to be repatriated to their original tribes. They were people who had been removed from their graves and donated or sold to an institution without any consent from their descendants.
One of Hyberger’s first actions was searching through the society’s archives, looking for any clues about the human remains to identify where they originally were buried and to which tribe they belonged.
“It's really common in most, if not all institutions, to have some level of backlog,” Hyberger said. “So as you start going through that material, you find all kinds of things that you don't expect to find.”
After scouring the archives, Hyberger didn’t just find that information — she also uncovered the remains of at least 18 more people who must be repatriated. According to her, this is not an uncommon phenomenon for institutions.
One of Hyberger’s first actions was searching through the society’s archives, looking for any clues about the human remains to identify where they originally were buried and to which tribe they belonged.
“It's really common in most, if not all institutions, to have some level of backlog,” Hyberger said. “So as you start going through that material, you find all kinds of things that you don't expect to find.”
After scouring the archives, Hyberger didn’t just find that information — she also uncovered the remains of at least 18 more people who must be repatriated. According to her, this is not an uncommon phenomenon for institutions.
Kentucky institutions begin to make progress repatriating Native American remains
Posted from wvxu.orgPosted in these groups: State of Kentucky
Native Americans
Native Americans
Posted 11 mo ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."New investments
According to Panther and Tipton, a shift is beginning to happen at many institutions that have long held onto NAGPRA remains. They said more institutions are reaching out to them, rather than forcing tribes to initiate contact.
U of L’s first repatriation was set to be completed in 2019 when COVID hit. Now, 16 individuals will be reburied in June.
UK’s Webb Museum filed its first repatriation notice for 138 individuals in January, although the tribes involved have yet to determine a date for reburial. Another notice for 472 individuals is in the works now, Chilcote-Fricker said.
Jennings, who started working at U of L in 2018, said he’s noticed a change — not just at his own institution, but at those across the state.
“There's just been a shift all around archaeologists wanting to [repatriate] and putting in more active effort to work with tribal partners,” Jennings said.
Last year, the department of anthropology won a grant to, as part of a larger database grant, catalog all of the university’s NAGPRA collections so they can better share their findings with tribes.
Repatriation is only a small part of Jennings’ and Marklein’s jobs. They both teach classes and have their own research and other duties to attend to.
Chilcote-Fricker was the first person hired at UK to explicitly work with NAGPRA in 2018, but she also teaches a class every semester.
Tipton, with the Shawnee Nation, said she doesn’t harbor negative feelings towards the institutions she works with to repatriate ancestors. She said they are working to correct the mistakes of previous generations with limited resources.
“At all these institutions, most of them are newer employees that have come in that didn’t create [this problem]. And honestly, they don't have enough employees to take care of it,” Tipton said. “Working with them in the consultation process, I think they're being open and honest and doing the best they can with what staff they have.”
According to Tipton, even if institutions had more robust staffing, they would still need to move slowly and thoughtfully. In repatriations, the goal is to recreate the initial burial site as closely as possible. That means reburying ancestors as close to their original site as possible and with all of the same people and objects they were buried alongside with as complete a skeleton as possible.
Early this year, UK announced they would invest more than $889,000 toward NAGPRA responsibilities over the next three years, which Chilcote-Fricker said will create a dedicated team of individuals, including a full-time osteologist and collections specialist.
Even with that investment, Chilcote-Fricker said the work of repatriation will likely not be complete at the end of three years. Her goal is to finish working through the archives in that time so she can provide complete information to tribes as they attempt to determine cultural affiliation and the appropriate reburial arrangements.
“It just takes time to make sure that it's being done correctly and being done with the greatest care and dignity we can afford those individuals,” Chilcote-Fricker said."
..."New investments
According to Panther and Tipton, a shift is beginning to happen at many institutions that have long held onto NAGPRA remains. They said more institutions are reaching out to them, rather than forcing tribes to initiate contact.
U of L’s first repatriation was set to be completed in 2019 when COVID hit. Now, 16 individuals will be reburied in June.
UK’s Webb Museum filed its first repatriation notice for 138 individuals in January, although the tribes involved have yet to determine a date for reburial. Another notice for 472 individuals is in the works now, Chilcote-Fricker said.
Jennings, who started working at U of L in 2018, said he’s noticed a change — not just at his own institution, but at those across the state.
“There's just been a shift all around archaeologists wanting to [repatriate] and putting in more active effort to work with tribal partners,” Jennings said.
Last year, the department of anthropology won a grant to, as part of a larger database grant, catalog all of the university’s NAGPRA collections so they can better share their findings with tribes.
Repatriation is only a small part of Jennings’ and Marklein’s jobs. They both teach classes and have their own research and other duties to attend to.
Chilcote-Fricker was the first person hired at UK to explicitly work with NAGPRA in 2018, but she also teaches a class every semester.
Tipton, with the Shawnee Nation, said she doesn’t harbor negative feelings towards the institutions she works with to repatriate ancestors. She said they are working to correct the mistakes of previous generations with limited resources.
“At all these institutions, most of them are newer employees that have come in that didn’t create [this problem]. And honestly, they don't have enough employees to take care of it,” Tipton said. “Working with them in the consultation process, I think they're being open and honest and doing the best they can with what staff they have.”
According to Tipton, even if institutions had more robust staffing, they would still need to move slowly and thoughtfully. In repatriations, the goal is to recreate the initial burial site as closely as possible. That means reburying ancestors as close to their original site as possible and with all of the same people and objects they were buried alongside with as complete a skeleton as possible.
Early this year, UK announced they would invest more than $889,000 toward NAGPRA responsibilities over the next three years, which Chilcote-Fricker said will create a dedicated team of individuals, including a full-time osteologist and collections specialist.
Even with that investment, Chilcote-Fricker said the work of repatriation will likely not be complete at the end of three years. Her goal is to finish working through the archives in that time so she can provide complete information to tribes as they attempt to determine cultural affiliation and the appropriate reburial arrangements.
“It just takes time to make sure that it's being done correctly and being done with the greatest care and dignity we can afford those individuals,” Chilcote-Fricker said."
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