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| | U of A identifies native remains
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- The University of Arkansas plans to return a set of Native Alaskan human remains stored at its museum, according to a federal notice posted Monday. The remains, consisting of a skull and lower jaw, are believed to belong to a 20- to 34-year-old Eskimo male. The National Park Service has asked that any tribes believing they are "culturally affiliated" with the human remains contact the museum by July 21. Museum curator Mary Suter said the remains were bought in the 1950s from a scientific supply company for physical anthropology instruction, and are the last of the museum's Eskimo remains that need to be repatriated. The museum is required to return the remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, a federal law passed in 1990. The act established a process for museums and federal agencies to return American Indian cultural items -- such as human remains and sacred objects -- to lineal descendants, culturally affiliated American Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. A catalog card identifies the human remains as a "skimo skull," according to a notice published Monday in the Federal Register. Eskimo was widely used to refer to Inupiaq- and Yup'ik-speaking Alaska Native populations of northern and western Alaska. University officials have traced the remains to the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Bering Straits Native Corp., Bristol Bay Native Corp., Calista Corp., Koniag, Inc., and NANA Regional Corp. The groups are among 13 regional corporations formed under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The law established a system of village and regional native corporations to manage the 44 million acres of Alaskan public land and a $962 million settlement of their aboriginal claim to the state's land. The remains will be returned to the six tribal corporations if no other tribe comes forward by July 21, the government notice said. Suter said she did not expect anyone else to come forward, noting the six tribal corporations have a system of accepting the remains on behalf of all Eskimos. She said the university has returned more than half of the American Indian remains in its possession. It expects to release two more notices for remains affiliated with the Caddo and Quapaw tribes of Arkansas, she said. Representatives of other tribes who believe they may have a claim on the Eskimo human remains should contact Mary Suter, curator of collections, the University Museum, University of Arkansas, Museum Building, Fayetteville, Ark., 72701, or (479) 575-3456. -- 30 -- |
