Museums Return Ancestral Remains, Cultural Items to Santa Ynez Chumash Indians

Human Remains and Objects Repatriated to Chumash Indians - Archaeology Magazine

SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA—The Santa Barbara Independent reports that ancestral remains and artifacts have been returned to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Mission Indians by the Yale Peabody Museum and Harvard University's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. The repatriation took four years to organize under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which became law in 1990. “Our ancestors and their belongings …

Museums Return Ancestral Remains, Cultural Items to Santa Ynez Chumash Indians

Several hundred cultural items and ancestral remains have been repatriated to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians from the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and the Yale Peabody Museum — a moment that was years in the making. Sacred and culturally significant items and remains arrived by truck at the Santa Ynez Chumash Museum and Cultural Center on June 27, marking a moment of healing and inspiration for the fu…