Calls made to repatriate Beothuk remains

Yahoo Canada ^ | Saturday, June 23, 2012 | CBC

[SunkenCiv]

Aboriginal groups want bones of the extinct Beothuk people to be removed from museum vaults and brought back to Newfoundland.

A woman named Shanawdithit was the last known member of her people, with her 1829 death in St. John's marking the end of the Beothuk. Disease, persecution and the Beothuk's decision to withdraw from coastal communities have been cited as causes of wiping out the Beothuk.

The location of Shanawdithit's grave is not known, but the skulls of her aunt and uncle -- a chief -- languish in a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The remains of at least 22 Beothuk are held in Canadian museum vaults...

For decades, the skeletons of a 6'6" Beothuk man and a child had been on full display at the Newfoundland Museum in St. John's. The remains, though, have long been packed away, as well as others.

Researchers have done some DNA and isotope testing, to confirm genetic connections to contemporary aboriginal people. Funding for that research, though, ran out a couple of years ago, and the project is at a standstill.

Misel Joe, chief of the Mi'kmaq reserve at Conne River in southern Newfoundland, not far from a former Beothuk excavation site, wants researchers to continue with their work, so that the remains can eventually be returned.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization has the remains of at least 10 Beothuk, although archaeology director David Morrison says repatriation is complicated because there are no known descendants of the Beothuk.

[tarawa]

The Karankawa Indians that used to inhabit the coastal areas of Texas were described as generally being between 6 and 7 feet tall. Really big guys, and the description of them was generally pretty fearsome.

[davius]

"Huh. So, what you’re saying is that the Micmacs are spies? And, that as spies, they’re working with the Canadian government in Canada’s planned conquest of our more profitable tourist traps?"

The notion that my posting would purposely release classified national security information is offensive. It's wrong and people, I think, need to have a better sense of how I approach this forum and how the people around me here approach this forum. We're dealing with issues that could touch on the safety and security of the American people, our families, or our military personnel, or our allies, and so we don't play with that, and it is a source of consistent frustration, not just for my account but for previous account holders when this stuff happens and we will continue to let everybody know in FReeperland or after they leave FReeperland that they have certain obligations that they should carry out but as I think has been indicated from these postings, whether or not the information they received is true, the writers of these postings have all stated unequivocally that they didn't come from this poster and that's not how we operate.

[Renfield]

Lots of Indians are tall, especially those on the northern plains. I worked one summer in a town in Montana that had a lot of Crow, Lakota, Blackfoot and Assiniboine Indians in it....and there were plenty of 7-footers visible. I'd say 6'6" was the average height of adult male Indians in that area.

[fanfan]

Thanks for the ping Civ.

Canada Ping

[Impy]

I see no need to revere ancient bones. Let them serve a purpose by being in a museum. They should be on display not in a vault.

This Indian leader probably just wants to open his own museum.

[SunkenCiv]

It’s about politics, like everything.

[SunkenCiv]

My pleasure.

[oldweesie]

Given that there were few, if any communicable diseases, and that most Indians did not live in close proximity to one another in built up urban areas plus, given the lifestyle (nomadic hunters, most of them) increased the likelihood that weaker and lest robust individuals were weeded out (natural selection), yes they were healthier - but not for long.