Debate: Should we rebury artifacts after studying them or keep them in museums?

I was at a dig site in Arizona last month and a local native elder asked me why we keep taking their ancestors' pottery away to sit in boxes. It got me thinking about the balance between science and respecting cultural heritage. Do you think we should rebury artifacts after studying them or keep them available for future research?

3 comments

3 Comments

valgibson3d ago

My buddy Mark who does repatriation work told me about a pueblo dig in New Mexico where they found a whole set of cooking pots and prayer feathers still in place. The tribe asked them to study it for six months then put everything back exactly where it was found and cover it up. Mark said it felt strange at first but watching the elders perform a ceremony over the reburial made him realize some things just belong back in the ground.

abbyl493d ago

Some things just belong back in the ground" got me. I used to think museums was the best place but nah, that changed my mind.

lisa8203d ago

Honestly, I've seen this kind of thing happen a few times with digs out west. My buddy @valgibson's friend Mark got the right end of it - six months is plenty of time to document everything with photos and drawings. I heard about a similar situation in Arizona where they found a whole basket with corn still in it, and the tribe had the exact same rule. The elders there said the spirits get restless if you take things out of their spot for too long, and that ceremony over the reburial is the real deal. Ngl, it makes sense to me - some stuff just isn't meant to sit on a museum shelf.