Museum gives back artifacts

[Otepgod]

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I found the article interesting.

Kingman Museum gives back artifacts to Native Americans | The Enquirer | battlecreekenquirer.com

[Palmwood]

I am a direct descendant of the Clovis people. So I guess I better get busy collecting all of my spear tips and tools from the museums.

[joshuaream]

That article is kind of interesting, I can see return remains if they can trace the origin clearly. e.g. The Smithsonian used to have remains of some known people from the Plains tribes, either recovered from a battlefield or people who died and were buried at a fort or post. If my great-great grandfather died and his remains were taken and stuffed in a basement somewhere where no one was ever going to see them or study them, I guess I'd prefer that he be buried in the family plot.

What gets interesting in the Tlingit mummified head mentioned in the article, is that most Tlingit heads were of made from people from other groups. So would you return said head to the Tlingit, or the group of the person the Tlingit killed to get the head? Some groups who had a historical hatred of each other have brought this up before, the insult of burying someone from that group on their land or having their loved ones buried by the other group.

[Indianasmith]

I've always said that human remains should not be returned unless ancestry can be proven!

[rokdok]

When they extracted DNA from remains at Windover archaic cemetary in Florida it was consistent with European DNA(5 samples from different individuals).All of a sudden the DNA testing was suspended, i wonder why? This is the largest archaic cemetary in the USA. Does this mean those remains should be returned to Europe?

[Mud Hawk]

Joshua brings up a great point with the Tlingit head. I would hope the returns are substantiated by DNA testing. Otherwise (outside of Paleo/Early Archaic) snap a few pics, keep a DNA sample, and get them back in the ground of their people.

[RED ANT]

Its like digging up your great grandparent. Put the body back in the ground where it belongs.