Please excuse any duplicates you receive of this message. It is being
cross-posted to several related lists [or will be eventually
:) !]
Jennifer
[log in to unmask]
NAGPRA Team
Press Release--Department of the Interior/National Park Service
For Immediate Release
Public Affairs: Cindy Daly (202) 208-4993
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SENDS INVENTORY OF REMAINS TO TRIBES, NATIVE
HAWAIIAN GROUPS
Bringing to an end an arduous five-year task, the National Park
Service (NPS) has sent inventories of all Native American human
remains and associated funerary objects under its control to 139
culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.
NPS Director Roger Kennedy praised the effort of those who brought the
taks to completion. "This accounting required the hard work of
ethnographers, curators, Indian liaison officers, archeologists,
historians, and many, many other dedicated National Park Service
professionals," said Kennedy. "The repatriation process demonstrates
our commitment to the common ground and common purpose we all share as
Americans."
The effort is being carried out under the Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), passed in 1990. NAGPRA
requires that federal agencies and institutions receiving federal
funds inventory the Native American remains and associated funerary
objects in their collections in consultation with culturally
affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. The
inventories, completed last November, had to be turned over to the
appropriate Native groups by May 16.
The NPS inventory identified 4,982 human remains from 100 different
parks. Approximately 77 percent were identified as culturally
affiliated with present-day tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations;
1,170 were culturally unidentifiable. The NAGPRA review committee, a
federal advisory group, will make recommendations on the disposition
of the culturally unidentifiable remains.
"This is only the first step in returning these remains to where they
rightfully belong," said Kennedy. "This is an expression of our
intent to do what is right."
For more information contact Dr. C. Timothy McKeown, NAGPRA Team
Leader, Archeology and Ethnography Program, National Park Service,
P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127, phone:(202) 343-4101,
fax:(202) 523-1547.
-NPS-
|