US Government-Funded Studies on Native Remains Undermined Repatriation Policy, Report Finds

ProPublica’s “Repatriation Project,” research focused on the aftermath of a decades-old U.S. repatriation policy, has revealed that government-funded studies on Native American remains in collections at universities and museums across the country undermined a U.S. law passed three decades ago requiring their return to Indigenous officials.

The report, published last week as part of an investigation around cultural repatriation of Indigenous remains in the U.S, examined the extent to which funding provided by U.S. federal agencies for research purposes influenced institutions to continue holding native ancestral remains for scholarly study. The reporting draws from public data cataloging around 100,000 Native American remains currently held in collections spanning museums, universities, and government agencies.

According to Propublica’s findings, the funding undermined national repatriation efforts after the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was first passed in 1990 to address looted gravesites on federal and Tribal lands. The legal move forced U.S. museums backed with government funding to review their permanent collections for Indigenous remains and initiate their returns.

The report examined the fallout from an early 2000s scientific study led by Joan Brenner Coltraine, a University of Utah anthropology professor that was backed by $222,218 in government grants and resulted in the “destructive analysis” of Pubelo remains, ProPublica found. The research, which altered remains held at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History in New York, Coltraine initially proposed, aimed to further facilitate the repatriation process.

Researchers involved in subsequent studies using remains of the same lineage held at both museums internally proposed to seek input from Indigenous leaders after concerns arose about repatriation conflicts. The investigation found that leadership at the American Museum of Natural History involved in the study, whose names are not disclosed, declined the request. No returns of ancestral remains from the two institutions were ever initiated. (Harvard and ANHM have since adopted policies banning destructive research on human remains.)

Academics and bioarchaeologists cited in the report raised concerns over the historical treatment of native American remains in university and museum settings as potential violations of NAGPRA . The Utah study, known as the Brenner Coltraine research, was not the only potential study in conflict with the aims of the NAGPRA legislation, ProPublica found. Government agencies distributed an estimated $15 million to universities and museums for scientific research on human remains, the report said.

In interviews from a previous report published as part of the media nonprofit’s ongoing investigation, tribal leaders have argued that NAGPRA is riddled with various conflicts. Some officials claim institutions have placed an unreasonable burden on Indigenous officials to initiate the repatriation process for ancestral remains. Various institutions have attributed a timing lull in executing returns as many have been designated “culturally unidentifiable.”

Regulations proposed this year would require museums and other institutions to stop research on any Native American remains subject to NAGPRA requests is currently under review by the U.S. Interior Department. According to public documents, the proposal requires museums and federal agencies to “complete timely dispositions and repatriations through consultation and collaboration with lineal descendants.” If authorized, the new standard would require researchers to consult with tribal officials before funding is distributed by January 2024.