SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Europeans, during centuries of prairie settlement, often disturbed the graves of Native Americans as they expanded their territories westward. Now, Native Americans are hopeful that a new Illinois law will expedite the return of their ancestors’ remains from sterile boxes on educational facility shelves or cultural exhibitions to their homeland for proper reburial.
Raphael Wahwassuck, tribal preservation officer for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta, Kansas, expressed concerns about the presence of their ancestors in university basements or museum closets. He believes the new law will alleviate these worries by facilitating the repatriation of their ancestors to a fitting resting place.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed The Human Remains Protection Act, updating a basic 1989 state statute and aligning with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act passed a year later. This legislation mandates the return of human remains, as well as funerary, sacred, and cultural artifacts, excavated in the last two centuries by various means, back to the affiliated tribes.
A significant aspect of the law is granting tribes the authority to rebury the recovered remains within Illinois, a preference over relocating them to states where the U.S. government forcibly resettled them nearly two centuries ago.
The Illinois State Museum, housing remains of approximately 7,000 individuals, is prepared to reunite 1,100 of them with their tribes, according to Brooke Morgan, the museum’s curator of anthropology. Overall, Illinois institutions can identify nearly 13,000 individuals to be repatriated.
Illinois is the fifth-largest repository of human remains in the nation, with many remains from Illinois held by institutions in other states. Nationwide, nearly 209,000 individuals’ remains have been reported to the federal government for repatriation.
While anthropological research on these remains has yielded valuable insights into past cultures and lives, Morgan acknowledges the need for ethical considerations, as such research can have consequences and potentially harm modern communities.
The law also enforces stricter monetary penalties, including required restitution, for disturbing human remains and associated items, such as displays. The Illinois State Museum had a display at Dickson Mounds in Lewistown, 200 miles southwest of Chicago, before discontinuing it in 1992.
While repatriation efforts in Illinois under the federal law have been slow, the museum is now on the verge of returning the remains of 1,100 individuals from Dickson Mounds to 10 tribes. This process has strengthened relationships with affected tribes, which is crucial as the new state law mandates meaningful dialogue between institutions and tribes regarding the handling and transfer of remains, rather than just notification.
Repatriation, once synonymous with returning remains to the states from which they were forcibly removed, is now evolving with this new law. Tribes are compiling a list of 30 potential burial sites, with tribes ultimately selecting the locations.
Matthew Bussler, tribal historic preservation officer for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi in Dowagiac, Michigan, emphasizes the importance of returning ancestors to the earth as part of tribal ceremonies, to redeem the suffering of their descendants.
Repatriation incurs costs for both tribes and the state, and the law provides funding for travel and related expenses incurred by tribes. This account is partially funded by fines for desecrating burial grounds, including restitution for collecting, cleaning, and reburial of illegally taken remains.
Bussler emphasizes the need to treat all human remains, whether recently discovered or from centuries past, with the utmost respect.