Alaska museum to hold native remains until returned to tribe

KODIAK, Alaska (AP) – An Alaska museum has received dozens of ancestral human remains to hold until they can be returned to a native tribe.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Thursday that Alutiiq Museum welcomed 38 ancestral human remains discovered southeast of Kodiak Island with funerary objects like blades, figurines and metal fragments.

Officials say the University of Wisconsin-Madison archaeologists unearthed the remains in the 1960s before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers discovered the collection and were tasked with locating other archaeological collections.

Officials say museums and federal agencies were mandated to return certain Native American cultural items to lineal descendants as part of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor says they are glad to have the items returned.
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Information from: Kodiak (Alaska) Daily Mirror, http://www.kodiakdailymirror.com