Repatriation and Erasing the Past

Engaging a current controversy important to archaeologists and indigenous communities, this volume takes a critical look at laws that mandate the return of human remains from museums and laboratories to ancestral burial grounds, offering scientific and legal perspectives on the ways repatriation laws impact research.

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Engaging a current controversy important to archaeologists and indigenous communities, Repatriation and Erasing the Past takes a critical look at laws that mandate the return of human remains from museums and laboratories to ancestral burial grounds. Anthropologist Elizabeth Weiss and attorney James Springer offer scientific and legal perspectives on the way repatriation laws impact research.Weiss discusses how anthropologists draw conclusions about past peoples through their study of skeletons and mummies and argues that continued curation of human remains is important. Springer reviews American Indian law and how it helped to shape laws such as NAGPRA (the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act). He provides detailed analyses of cases including the Kennewick Man and the Havasupai genetics lawsuits. Together, Weiss and Springer offer a thoughtful critique of repatriation—both the ideology and the laws that support it. Repatriation and Erasing the Past is a helpful assessment for scholars and students who wish to understand both sides of the debate.