Broken pieces of pottery, art work, weapons and human remains
lay in boxes in parts of the Fowler Museum and Hershey Hall ““
not for display, but waiting to be returned to their places of
origin.
These remains make up UCLA’s collection of American
Indian-related artifacts that give researchers a glimpse into an
ancient culture. Many of these artifacts are also sacred to their
respective tribes, some of which have been making journeys to UCLA
to retrieve them since 1990.
Currently, UCLA is working to return remains to a tribe from
Eureka, Calif.
These artifacts are available to view upon request. Tribe
members are encouraged to come to UCLA to view the collection, and
the public is also allowed to examine the artifacts for
research.
The Eureka tribe is trying to retrieve a jawbone that is assumed
to belong to one of the tribe’s ancestors, said Diana Wilson,
an ethnographer and the coordinator for the UCLA review committee
of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Passed in 1990, this act gives tribes and family members the
right to retrieve human remains of ancestors and any other
artifacts related to their tribes’ culture. The UCLA
committee was formed when the law was passed, and it has been
working to return artifacts to tribes requesting such action.
Some American Indian students believe the sacred remains should
not have been dug up in the first place.
“To dig up our ancestors in the name of science and
education is what they have been doing … when it comes down to
it. How would anyone feel about that?” said Lambert Yazzie, a
second-year graduate student in American Indian studies.
As a part of Native American Heritage Month, repatriation was
brought to the campus’ attention in the form of a documentary
film shown to raise awareness of issues affecting the American
Indian community.
“Different tribes have different standings on issues of
resurfacing their dead, and to some tribes it is more important to
retrieve cultural objects than human remains,” said Russell
Thornton, a professor in the anthropology department who also
teaches an honors seminar on repatriating Native American human
remains.
The act does not regulate private institutions, and only those
institutions receiving federal funding are subject to follow the
act, Thornton said.
If the Eureka tribe’s case is successful, it will be the
fifth case of repatriation completed at UCLA since the act
passed.
For items to be returned to tribes, a request first has to be
approved by the UCLA committee, made up of students, faculty
members and professionals. The committee then presents their
findings and waits for approval from the UC-wide repatriation
committee.
The artifact inventory is still growing at UCLA, though it is
now illegal to accept human remains as donations.
“We try to take the most from our own area, which is Los
Angeles and Ventura County. … A lot of times people want us to
take their artifacts and give them a home,” said Wendy
Teeter, the Fowler Museum’s curator of archaeology.
Teeter added that issues of space and funding also get in the
way of UCLA accepting all donations.