ABSTRACT

OF ALL THE CULTURAL RE SOURCE issues affecting Indian tribes today, noneis more complicated than the return and reburial of human remains. Some tribes seek to rebury all their ancestors on tribal lands. Other Native Americans are not interested in having bones in museums reburied, but they are keenly interested in claiming unidentified remains found on public land for various reasons, including the assertion of expanded territorial boundaries, the settlement of land claims suits, and as a means to tribal recognition. This essay explores the history of the collection of Native American skeletons and explains the unintended efforts of recent legislation which was passed to help return Indian remains to tribal hands. For public historians working with tribal peoples these are vital issues which must be understood both in a historical context and in terms of how Indians today perceive their relationship to contemporary archaeologists, anthropologists, historical researchers and museum curators.