Repatriation, Indigenous Authority, and the Ethics of Ancient Remains

Any serious discussion of Shuká Káa must engage with the question of repatriation — the return of ancient human remains to the Indigenous communities who have ancestral or cultural connections to them — and with the broader ethical questions that surround the scientific study of ancestral remains.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), passed by the United States Congress in 1990, established a legal framework requiring federal agencies and federally funded institutions to consult with Native American tribes and repatriate human remains and cultural items with demonstrable connections to living communities.

The law reflected the recognition that the collection of Native American human remains by museums and scientific institutions — a practice that had been conducted throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with essentially no consideration of Indigenous consent or community interests — was ethically indefensible.