Wesleyan Begins Returning Native American Artifacts

Hart\ford Courant ^ | December 9, 2013 | ERIK HESSELBERG

[Daffynition]

MIDDLETOWN — Graveyards are sacred, but for many Native Americans their journey into the spirit world was interrupted when their ancient burial grounds were dug up in the name of science. For example, in 1948, the University of California Berkeley boasted to Life magazine that the university held in storage "more than 10,000 Indian skeletons, many of them complete."

Wesleyan University too collected Native American relics, but the university recently announced that it was returning the human remains of some 15 Native Americans held for more than 100 years.

Wesleyan has been discreet about returning the remains, revealing its intentions only on its website. The university also posted a formal apology "to all Native Nations and indigenous peoples" for keeping the relics so long.

[Daffynition]

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

[onedoug]

Fortunately these native Americans no longer need their bodies. God has seen to that.

[Sacajaweau]

Apparently, americans have no standing in this. I was just searching in Geneva NY. They removed more than 600 bodies to make way for a high school.

[Sawdring]

Didn’t anyone learn about building on an ancient Indian burial ground? The movie Poltergeist should stand out in everyone’s mind.

[riverrunner]

But it is just a movie.

[Sawdring]

Oh.

[Betis70]

NAGPRA is nothing new. Surprised it took Wesleyan this long. This law passed while I was taking a Human Osteology class in my Anthro program.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

It should be noted that the French just blew off the request for the return of Hopi Indian sacred artifacts, that they instead allowed to be auctioned off.

The Hopi are a rather unusual tribe, whose reservation is entirely surrounded by Navajo (Diné) Indian reservation. They have an extraordinarily complex religion, especially known for Kachina dolls.

Because of this complexity, the Hopi create dolls that symbolize both their multitude of traditional gods (though most are Christian) and culture, that are so intertwined they cannot dispense with one without losing the other.

Until about the 1970s, stealing their cultural artifacts was done extensively, but was finally equated with stealing religious icons from churches.

[GladesGuru]

“Because of this complexity, the Hopi create dolls that symbolize both their multitude of traditional gods (though most are Christian)”

I did not know the Hopi made Christian Ikons, as did the Russian Orthodox. Indeed, I could not see any similarity between the two.

Might I therefore, ask for data supporting your hypothesis?

Thanks.

[Daffynition]

I didn’t realize that Wes had closed their museum in Judd Hall [1957]. Used to be a popular field trip site for local school kids.

Guess there were no *takers* for the compiled artifacts:

**Wesleyan’s Native American relics have been traced to tribes in Connecticut, Illinois and Tennessee, according to Doug Charles, chair of Wesleyan’s anthropology department. Charles told the Argus in 2010 that Wesleyan had provided tribes with summaries of Wesleyan’s holdings, but until then there had been no requests for repatriation.**

[Daffynition]

There’s a small but *enthusiastic* group of Indian *ghost hunters* that investigates paranormal activities.

http://www.mcalesternews.com/oklahoma_state_house/x862197257/Indian-paranormal-enthusiasts-study-the-unexplained

[Daffynition]

Very interesting. THX for the info.

[Betis70]

I believe yefragetuwrabrumuy is saying most Hopi (as in people) are Christian, not that their Kachinas are Russian Ikons.

[Betis70]

It’s such a den of psycho libbies, I tend to avoid it, despite it being so close to where I live.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I read, years ago, that the Kachina dolls really have no religious significance as they make them to sell and are often pawned to tourists. It is the MASKS, which are never for sale or pawned, that have the religious power.

It may be like the sand paintings of the Navajo. They make them for sale to tourists, but put a small “error” in the design that makes them “non religious” items.

[Daffynition]

LOL...I understand. When I living closer, to know that Alan Alda and Bill Cosby’s offspring went there....was enuf for me. :)

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Indeed it is the masks that are sacred. The Kachina dolls are mostly instructional. But that being said, old Kachinas are looked at much like old and valuable books about religion, and using them for commercial purposes is seen as in bad taste.

Some years ago, a Phoenix cartoonist did a series using Jesus in the same way as Kachinas were used in advertisements, to show how tacky it looked. It did.

[goat granny]

don’t you just love grave robbers in the name of science and schools. s/

[Sacajaweau]

A friend of mine would go to a Lake after a storm and pick up artifacts. He gave them to a local museum. Then he found out they were selling them as fast as they came in. Lot of history “thieves” in this world.

[goat granny]

after a storm is the time to go treasure hunting with a metal detector, especially if one lives near the ocean...Have talked to people walking the beaches in California and one guy said the best he found was a large diamond ring....People lose stuff on a sandy beach and the storm churns up treasures in gold etc from the bottom of the ocean...indian artifacts are not as interesting as diamond rings and emerald pins. Watched a special on that once...even if one lives near the great lakes, real treasure can be found...now that would be fun. and something to keep....:O)