The Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University will repatriate a number of artifacts that were taken from Maine tribes, WABI reported Tuesday.
As part of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), the museum will return at least eight items that were of significant value to Maine’s Mi’kmaq, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes, a Federal Register filing indicated.
NAGPRA ensures that there is a process for institutions that acquired Indigenous artifacts to return those items to the tribes that claim them, with the specific intent of recognizing that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong, first, to those Indigenous people.
When an item is made available for repatriation, it signifies that an institution recognizes it should return to its original owners. The tribe that item belongs to can claim it and bring it back, or repatriate it, to their community. Many institutions across the country are continuing to identify items that should be returned to tribes.
The Yale Peabody Museum acquired the eight items eligible for repatriation from the collection of extensive Maine archaeologist Warren K. Moorehead by donation made in 1926.
Those items include: One spearhead and one plummet, taken from the Emerson Cemetery in Hancock County; one spearhead taken from Hartford’s Cemetery in Hancock County; a “lot” of red ochre removed from Sullivan Falls Cemetery in Hancock County; three gouges taken from Stevens Cemetery in Knox County; and one gouge removed from Hathaway’s Cemetery in Penobscot County.
They will be available to claim by Dec. 12, according to the federal filing.
According to a ProPublica report from November 2023, nearly 1,000 items have been made available for repatriation to the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribes at Pleasant Point and at Indian Township and the Penobscot Nation, collectively called the Wabanaki Nations.
In Maine, at least seven institutions, including the Maine State Museum, University of Maine and the Abbe Museum, have reported remains taken from Indigenous tribes from across the country. At least five of the seven institutions have made items available for repatriation efforts.
