Following is the press release for the new members of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee
(United States). It has been sent out to numerous
discussion lists so please excuse cross-postings. We sent
this press release out last week but there was some sort of
transmission problem and the resulting post was quite
difficult to read -- I hope this time things work better.
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR PRESS RELEASE:
Interior Secretary Babbitt Appoints Members of the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt announced the appointment
of five private citizens as members of the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Review Committee. Appointments to the
committee were selected from nominations the Secretary received from
Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, and national museum and
scientific organizations.
"The issues before this very talented committee are challenging and
complex," Babbitt noted. "I look forward to their recommendations as
we work to develop a process for disposition of culturally
unidentifiable Native American human remains."
Two original members were reappointed for three year terms to
ensure the committee's continuity:
Dr. Tessie Naranjo is a tribal member of Santa Clara Pueblo in New
Mexico, where she has lived most of her life. She is a founding board
member of the Keepers of the Treasures, a native cultural council
dedicated to the preservation, celebration, and enhancement of Native
American cultural heritage. She served as committee chair since 1993.
Dr. Martin Sullivan is director of the Heard Museum in Phoenix,
Arizona. In 1995, he was appointed by President Clinton to a four-year
term as chair of the President's Advisory Committee on Cultural
Property which advises the State Department and the Customs Service in
implementation of the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Property. He is
also a founding trustee of the American Indian Ritual Object
Repatriation Foundation.
Three new members were appointed for six year terms:
Dr. James Bradley is director of the Robert S. Peabody Museum of
Archaeology at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He is an
archeologist and historian, with special interests in native peoples
of the Northeast and in Native American metallurgy. He serves on the
Committee on Repatriation of the Society for American Archaeology.
Mr. Armand Minthorn serves on the board of trustees of the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He helped
establish Tamustilik (the Umatilla Tribal Cultural Center) and the
Umatilla Cultural Resource Protection Program. He serves as the
northwest area representative to the Commission on Repatriation and
Burial Sites Protection of the National Congress of American Indians.
He is a traditional religious leader of the Umatilla Longhouse.
Dr. John O'Shea is curator of Great Lakes Archaeology and Professor
of Anthropology at the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology.
He has studied issues of archeological site complexity and variation
in both the United States and Europe, with special emphasis on
funerary practices.
The seven member committee -- including Mr. Lawrence Hart, a
Southern Cheyenne traditional religious leader appointed in 1996, and
a yet to be named seventh member to be appointed by the Secretary from
a list prepared by the current six members -- is charged with
monitoring, reviewing, and assisting in implementation of certain
requirements of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation
Act.
The Act requires that federal agencies and museums that receive
federal funds provide information about Native American human remains,
funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony in
their collections to lineal descendants, Indian tribes, and Native
Hawaiian organizations and repatriate those items in certain
circumstances. The law also provides additional protection for Native
American graves on federal or tribal lands.
Mandy Murphy
[log in to unmask]
NAGPRA Consultant
National Park Service
Archeology & Ethnography Program
Washington, DC
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