Post by blackcrowheart on Apr 29, 2006 11:19:59 GMT -5
A proper reburial at Mesa Verde
A proper reburial at Mesa Verde
By Electa Draper
<mailto:edraper@denverpost.com>
www.denverpost.com/ci_3747780?source=rss
<http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3747780?source=rss>
Durango - A tiny gathering of Hopi leaders laid to rest more than 1,500
ancient Puebloan remains in a private ceremony at Mesa Verde National
Park last week, ending a 12-year effort to return their ancestors to the
earth.
The skeletal remains, most of which are incomplete sets of bones
representing an unknown number of individuals, are now back in the
ground where, 24 tribes believe, their ancestors can finish their
spiritual journeys in peace, said park archaeologist Linda Towle.
The park had officially relinquished the remains to the tribes in
December. But it wasn't until Thursday that the Hopis spent about eight
hours at a secret site reburying bones 700 to 1,500 years old.
The ceremonial contingent later underwent a separate cleansing ritual.
The Hopi Tribe would not comment.
Privacy concerns
"We were all very concerned about privacy," Towle said. "The ceremony
was not open to anyone but invited participants."
Park staff provided equipment and helped move earth but were not present
for the entire ceremony, park spokeswoman Tessy Shirikawa said.
"Everybody breathed a sigh of relief that these people can now complete
the life journeys that were interrupted," Shirikawa said. "Everybody,
especially the tribes, has worked very hard to accomplish this."
Disturbances decried
For a century, American Indians decried the disturbance of ancestral
graves by everyone from commercial pot hunters to professional
archaeologists. But in 1990, passage of the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act provided for the return of remains and
certain cultural objects to the likely descendants.
"It was the right thing to do," Towle said. "We are in a different era,
16 years since NAGPRA passed, and we know these people deserve to be in
their graves."
Repatriation has been a costly, time-consuming and complicated process
for the tribes and the federal agencies, as well as the federally funded
museums and academic institutions that possessed the remains and
artifacts.
But, Towle said, the law has strengthened the relationship between park
staff and the tribes claiming cultural affiliation to the disturbed
bones.
"When NAGPRA was passed, we didn't foresee how close we would get to the
tribes," she said. "They are now so much more involved in interpreting
ancestral culture for the park for everything from brochures to
exhibits."
Countless hours of work
Thursday's historic interment at Mesa Verde was preceded by countless
hours of research, lengthy consultations among a core of 18 tribes, and
preparation of remains and almost 5,000 funerary objects, such as beads
and pottery.
It took about 20 physical anthropologists one summer just to inventory
the collection, Towle said.
A century's worth
Many of the reburied bones had been unearthed between the late 1800s and
late 1900s, eventually ending up in the custody of the National Park
Service in a giant metal research and storage building at Mesa Verde.
Scientists had excavated many of the remains at the park or other sites
around the Four Corners area. Construction projects accidentally
unearthed others. Some were mailed anonymously to the park.
A few largely intact mummies had been exhibited for years in museums and
other public venues - displays that the tribes found extremely
disrespectful. But the remains have been mostly out of sight for more
than a decade.
Park officials had to remove the remains from the park and temporarily
store them elsewhere for safekeeping during the 2002 fire season.
A different counting system previously had placed the number of
individual human remains held at Mesa Verde at about 800 before the
revised figure of 1,500 was used.
Those remains now have a permanent resting place.
Through late 2005, NAGPRA has led to a nationwide repatriation inventory
of 31,571 sets of human remains and 633,525 funerary objects, according
to the federal register.
A proper reburial at Mesa Verde
By Electa Draper
<mailto:edraper@denverpost.com>
www.denverpost.com/ci_3747780?source=rss
<http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3747780?source=rss>
Durango - A tiny gathering of Hopi leaders laid to rest more than 1,500
ancient Puebloan remains in a private ceremony at Mesa Verde National
Park last week, ending a 12-year effort to return their ancestors to the
earth.
The skeletal remains, most of which are incomplete sets of bones
representing an unknown number of individuals, are now back in the
ground where, 24 tribes believe, their ancestors can finish their
spiritual journeys in peace, said park archaeologist Linda Towle.
The park had officially relinquished the remains to the tribes in
December. But it wasn't until Thursday that the Hopis spent about eight
hours at a secret site reburying bones 700 to 1,500 years old.
The ceremonial contingent later underwent a separate cleansing ritual.
The Hopi Tribe would not comment.
Privacy concerns
"We were all very concerned about privacy," Towle said. "The ceremony
was not open to anyone but invited participants."
Park staff provided equipment and helped move earth but were not present
for the entire ceremony, park spokeswoman Tessy Shirikawa said.
"Everybody breathed a sigh of relief that these people can now complete
the life journeys that were interrupted," Shirikawa said. "Everybody,
especially the tribes, has worked very hard to accomplish this."
Disturbances decried
For a century, American Indians decried the disturbance of ancestral
graves by everyone from commercial pot hunters to professional
archaeologists. But in 1990, passage of the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act provided for the return of remains and
certain cultural objects to the likely descendants.
"It was the right thing to do," Towle said. "We are in a different era,
16 years since NAGPRA passed, and we know these people deserve to be in
their graves."
Repatriation has been a costly, time-consuming and complicated process
for the tribes and the federal agencies, as well as the federally funded
museums and academic institutions that possessed the remains and
artifacts.
But, Towle said, the law has strengthened the relationship between park
staff and the tribes claiming cultural affiliation to the disturbed
bones.
"When NAGPRA was passed, we didn't foresee how close we would get to the
tribes," she said. "They are now so much more involved in interpreting
ancestral culture for the park for everything from brochures to
exhibits."
Countless hours of work
Thursday's historic interment at Mesa Verde was preceded by countless
hours of research, lengthy consultations among a core of 18 tribes, and
preparation of remains and almost 5,000 funerary objects, such as beads
and pottery.
It took about 20 physical anthropologists one summer just to inventory
the collection, Towle said.
A century's worth
Many of the reburied bones had been unearthed between the late 1800s and
late 1900s, eventually ending up in the custody of the National Park
Service in a giant metal research and storage building at Mesa Verde.
Scientists had excavated many of the remains at the park or other sites
around the Four Corners area. Construction projects accidentally
unearthed others. Some were mailed anonymously to the park.
A few largely intact mummies had been exhibited for years in museums and
other public venues - displays that the tribes found extremely
disrespectful. But the remains have been mostly out of sight for more
than a decade.
Park officials had to remove the remains from the park and temporarily
store them elsewhere for safekeeping during the 2002 fire season.
A different counting system previously had placed the number of
individual human remains held at Mesa Verde at about 800 before the
revised figure of 1,500 was used.
Those remains now have a permanent resting place.
Through late 2005, NAGPRA has led to a nationwide repatriation inventory
of 31,571 sets of human remains and 633,525 funerary objects, according
to the federal register.