Monday, February 9, 1998
UC revising policy on Native American remains
ANTHROPOLOGY By law, right to reclaim artifacts currently given
only to federally recognized tribes
By Catherine Turner
Daily Bruin Contributor
Since 1990, Native Americans’ remains, excavated from burial
sites by archaeologists in the early 1900s, have been waiting in
the basement of Haines Hall to be claimed by their descendants. But
now revisions to the current UC policy are in the works and the
first repatriation of remains is hopefully on its way.
"Some tribes feel that the spirits of their ancestors are not at
rest and can only be put to rest through reburial," said Natalie
Stites, president of the American Indian Student Association (AISA)
at UCLA and a Cheyenne River Sioux.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
(NAGPRA) passed by Congress in 1990 states that any artifact
excavated from the graves of Native Americans in the possession of
federally funded institutions can no longer be studied and must be
returned to its original federally recognized tribe, if the tribe
claims it.
"Each institution must perform an inventory on the remains,
categorize them by excavation site and then send copies of their
findings to the Department of the Interior, which is a very long
process," said Glenn Russell, who is on the University of
California Office of the President (UCOP) Committee on
Repatriation.
In response to NAGPRA, UCOP was required to form a policy
applicable to all UCs in possession of any such remains.
The current UC policy does not require that funerary remains be
repatriated to tribes that are not federally recognized.
A federally recognized tribe is a tribe that has submitted a
request to the Department of the Interior and is granted
recognition based on an evaluation of that request.
The Hopi nation will be the first tribe to repatriate its
remains from UCLA. Tribal representatives visited UCLA in the fall,
and the tribe plans to claim its remains before the end of the
year.
"It’s very relevant right now because currently, tribes are
beginning to initiate claims," Stites said.
Because of a need for clarification, the UC policy is currently
being updated.
"I am concerned that the current UC policy disempowers tribes
that are not federally recognized. These tribes should be able to
make successful repatriation claims," Stites said.
"The policy is an attempt … to hold human remains and cultural
items, which should be rightfully repatriated, under the guise of
scientific research and public interest," Stites wrote in a letter
to Harold Horowitz, chair of the UCLA Repatriation Committee, which
is no longer in existence.
However, Horowitz said,"We are in complete compliance with
NAGPRA and are unaware of any lack of compliance."
The UC policy is still being reformed by the UCOP Committee on
Repatriation. The committee is expected to address the status of
unrecognized tribes in the final version of the UC policy.
"There has been a great deal of learning of past lives of people
based on the (remains) themselves and artifacts from graves," said
Russell.
Both Stites and Russell agree that these artifacts benefit
education and are vital to the spiritual beliefs of Native American
tribes, but in the dark, substandard basement of Haines, they are
of use to no one.
Although improvements have been made in the last few years, "The
basement is damp and there is no temperature control … it is
below the standards of any museum attempting to preserve remains,"
Stites said.
Despite the efforts of Russell, AISA and many others, the
funerary remains are still thrown in boxes, unprotected from the
dust, rodents and even a past flood.
Jacob Goff, who is a member of the Tohono O’odham tribe and
secretary of AISA, feels that it is important to begin to respect
these remains. Goff described his visit to the basement of Haines
Hall as "humbling."
UCLA obtained much of the collection of funerary artifacts from
archaeologists, donations from museums and the excavations of Dr.
James Hill, a former UCLA anthropology professor.
At least 80 percent of the collection is Coastal Band Chumash, a
tribe which contains some members who are represented by the
federally recognized Santa Inez tribe. Only the members who are
part of the Santa Inez Band are able to initiate claims for their
remains.
The Chumash have visited the site, but it is unclear as to
whether or not they have initiated a claim for repatriation.
Russell has attempted to notify both federally recognized and
unrecognized tribes on the status of the remains.
"The status of federally unrecognized tribes will tentatively be
addressed in the updated version of the UC’s policy on
repatriation," said Russell.