November 7, 2002
Repatriation of remains is topic of confab
The ongoing Kennewick Man dispute and proposed rules covering the disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains are the agenda for the first Seattle meeting of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee this week.
Representatives of American Indian tribes, museums, archaeologists and the general public will gather in the Walker-Ames Room in Kane Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 8 and 9 and from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 10. The committee reviews and monitors implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) of 1990.
Kennewick Man, whose remains are currently being stored on campus at the Burke Museum, is on the agenda at 11:45 a.m. Friday. Proposed rules covering the disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains will be discussed at 1:30 p.m. Friday, and the topic also will be the focus of public comments and presentations at 4 p.m. Saturday and at 11:15 a.m. Sunday.
Much of Saturday’s agenda will be devoted to a dispute between the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Ho-Chunk Nation over the Thunder Clan War Bundle. The dispute centers on the bundle as a sacred object.
The Native American Law Center, American Indian Studies Center, the Department of Anthropology, the Burke museum and the museology program are sponsoring the committee meeting on campus.
