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More on repatriating indigenous bones:
Prime Ministerial Joint Statement on Aboriginal Remains: July 5, 2000 -The Australian and British governments agree to increase efforts to repatriate human remains to Australian indigenous communities. In doing this, the governments recognise the special connection that indigenous people have with ancestral remains, particularly where there are living descendants.
Repatriation in the Phillipines: Repatriation of ancestral remains is a worldwide issue and they would not lack for sympathizers. Among Filipino indigenous peoples, repatriation is not a novel concern for which there are eloquent precedents. Sometime ago, the mummified remains of a Cordillera ancestor were repatriated from Manila to its original burial chamber in the hinterlands.
Background from the Dakota-Lakota-Nakota Human Rights Advocacy Coalition: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990 was an attempt to correct some of these abuses. Helping to pave the way was the Vermillion Accord, an agreement between archaeologists and indigenous peoples at the 1989 World Archaeological Conference in Vermillion, South Dakota, which was a reach for ethical archaeology
Bibliography of repatriation issues
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission News: The return of the Edinburgh Collection, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, marks one victory in a long battle waged by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have ancestral remains as well as cultural objects returned to Australia and ultimately to their communities of origin. Despite this and previous repatriations, the remains of hundreds of people are still in British institutions, and it is estimated that more than 7000 items remain in Australian collections.
From the Smithsonian to Haida Gwaii: Yesterday, the Haida delegates performed native songs and dances at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Lower Manhattan. The sound of handheld drums thundered through a large domed hall as men and women danced and chanted aboriginal songs. One man wore the costume of an eagle, another that of a raven, representing two towns on the northernmost island � Old Massett and Skidegate, about 70 miles south.
There is a special repatriation song based on a butterfly, Ms. Collison explained to the crowd.
“The butterfly is a culture that represents the traveling spirits and wandering souls of those who have left,” she said. “Those ancestors are wandering.”
On Thursday the delegates will meet with American Museum of Natural History officials for the first formal ceremony leading to the actual repatriation. After that, the remains, which are sealed in plastic containers, will be prayed over and spoken to in Haida, to comfort them. The only time they are to be left alone, Ms. Collison said, is during the plane trip back to British Columbia. Ceremonies on the islands will take place Sept. 26 and 28.
Dorothy Bell, 85, of Old Massett, is the oldest of the delegates. She joined the group on a recent repatriation trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. “We talked Haida” to the remains, she recalled, “and said they’re going back to Haida Gwaii, and they should be happy.” Then everyone heard drums in the distance, and took it as a sign that their ancestors “were happy to go home.”
Indian Burial Grounds and Sacred Sites Watch
Salon review of “Bones: Discovering the First Americans”: The ongoing debate over where the first Americans came from has anthropologists battling with Native Americans, white supremacists and the Army Corps of Engineers. (Kennewick Man).
