From the Detroit News:
The University of Michigan will work with tribes on the disposition of unidentified Native American human remains held by the university to comply with newly released federal rules.
The National Park Service on Monday announced the rule to establish a process to repatriate remains in museums or on exhibit which have not been culturally affiliated with a tribe.
The rules, which go into effect May 14, require universities and federal agencies with unidentified remains in their collections to work with tribes that lived in the areas where the remains were exhumed.
There are more than 124,000 unidentified Native American human remains in the United States, including some held by U-M’s Museum of Anthropology.
“Publication of the rule will go a long way in helping tribes, museums and federal agencies as they work to resolve claims to Native American human remains,” said Jon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service.
U-M is digesting the rules, university spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said. She added it will comply and communicate with Indian tribes.
The Native American Graves and Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 requires universities to inventory human remains and other cultural objects within their collections.
U-M completed its inventory in 1995, which included collections from 465 archeological sites and 354 ethnographic specimens estimated to be 800-1,400 years old, with some items more than 3,000 years old. The magnitude of the culturally unidentified remains was unclear.
Since passage of the act, U-M has repatriated remains and other cultural items to Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
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