PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 29, 2024
The Native American Graves Repatriation Act, which passed in 1990, sets out a process for museums and other institutions to review their collections for any human remains found on tribal lands or associated funerary objects placed with or near remains as part of Native American death rites or ceremonies. If any of those items can be linked to specific tribes or nations that are still active, they are then offered for repatriation. One of the challenges has been the staggering amount of time it can take for museums to do the work. And some have been resistant to letting items in their collection go, even if they have a sacred or ancestral connection to Indigenous tribes. This month, the University of Pennsylvania linked an adult female cranium in its collection to one of the Wabanaki tribes in Maine. Those remains had been removed from a cemetery near the Androscoggin River prior to the Civil War and were initially held by Bowdoin College. Repatriation of those remains to affiliated tribes or lineal descendants could happen by early next year.