Returning ancestors home: a nagpra grant to help fund the return of 79 ancestors and cultural items at the centerfor new mexico archaeologythis project is a nagpra inventory and consultation on 79…

This $100,000 federal Project Grant award from the National Park Service's Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Grant Program will support the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture (MIAC) in New Mexico to conduct inventory, consultation, and repatriation efforts for 79 Native American ancestors and cultural items. The grant will fund the hiring of one full-time staff member and one graduate intern to catalog, inventory, consult with tribal representatives, and prepare for the repatriation of these ancestral remains and funerary objects to the appropriate tribes, which may include 19 New Mexico Pueblos as well as the Hopi, Apache, Ute, Kiowa or Diné tribes. The project aims to facilitate timely repatriation, build stronger relationships between MIAC and tribal communities, and help the museum meet its obligations under NAGPRA to return these cultural items to their rightful owners. The award period runs from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2026.

Returning ancestors home: a nagpra grant to help fund the return of 79 ancestors and cultural items at the centerfor new mexico archaeologythis project is a nagpra inventory and consultation on 79 ancestors and funerary objects coming to the museum ofindian arts and culture in 2024 to return these individuals and collections home to the appropriate tribes. Theindividuals and collections come from the office of archaeological studies who have housed them since theirexcavation in the 1980S. The museum requests $100,000 to hire one full-time staff member and one graduate internto catalog, inventory, consult on, and prepare for the repatriation of these ancestors and cultural items. Thiswill greatly help the museum and the tribes to consult and repatriate these collections, while IT will also helpthe museum to achieve its goal to return individuals back to their communities in the timeliest fashion possible. The project will fund consultations with the museums indian advisory panel (IAP) who serve as advisors in thenagpra process. The IAP has worked with the museum for 17 years, advising on exhibits, programs, priorities, andpolicies. In-person consultations with descendant tribes is a critical component of this work. All nineteen newmexico pueblos and multiple tribal nations could have interest in repatriating these cultural items andindividuals. The costs for bringing numerous tribes to santa FE and the eventual rehousing and possiblecouriering of these individuals or objects to their final resting place is not small. Grant funds will greatlyincrease the ability of tribes and the museum to facilitate consultations and repatriation.beneficiaries may include 19 new mexico pueblos, as well as the hopi, apache, UTE, kiowa or DIN tribes as theybring ancestors and cultural items home. The museum will also benefit by meeting the intent of nagpra, returningthese ancestors home, and by complying with federal law and the museums mission to repatriate ancestors. Themuseum will build stronger relationships with tribal members whom they will work with for years to come inadditional repatriation efforts and other positive capacities. The museums mission is to serve as a center of stewardship, knowledge, and understanding of the artistic, cultural, and intellectual achievements of the diverse peoples of the native southwest. With one of the largestarchaeological collections in the southwest housed at the center for new mexico archaeology, which is part of themuseum, the museums archaeological collections contain AROUND10 million objects excavated from sites in newmexico and the greater southwest over the past 100 years. Although the museum has conducted several largerepatriations, the process has not gone as quickly as hoped due to a small staff and the complexity of the nagpraprocess, as well as a collections move of the entire archaeology collections from several buildings to a newfacility that took a decade to complete. Because the center is the states repository for all archaeologyconducted on state land in new mexico, the collections grow every year. Due to the longevity of the collections, many of the museums collections come from highway projects conducted in the 1960S and beyond. In the past, humanancestors were excavated along with funerary items, leading to a great number of individuals ending up inmuseums. This museum cares for at least 1,229 ancestors and hundreds of cultural items. IT is of utmostimportance and with a high degree of respect that we strive to return all ancestors and cultural items in ourcare back home to their communities.