The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan to Repatriate Native American Ancestral Human Remains and Associated Funerary Objects from the University of Michigan.
11/18/2014 3:00:00 PM - Public Relations

Mt. Pleasant, Michigan  –  The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and its Ziibiwing Cultural Society (Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways) will repatriate the ancestral human remains of 94 Native American individuals and 812 associated funerary objects from the University of Michigan’s Museum of Anthropological Archaeology in Ann Arbor, Michigan on November 16-19, 2014. The Ziibiwing Cultural Society has been working diligently on behalf of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, and in cooperation with the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA), to bring home ancestors and their associated funerary objects from the numerous museums, universities and institutions across the country since the passage of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

 NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory and identify Native American human remains and cultural items in their collections and to consult with Federally-recognized Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations regarding the return of these objects to descendants or tribes and organizations.

 “As a result of NAGPRA, more than 10,000 Native American human remains, one million funerary objects, and thousands of sacred objects have been united with tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations,” said National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis.

The University of Michigan posted a Notice of Inventory Completion in the Federal Register on October 16, 2014. From 1923 to 1935, human remains representing, at minimum, 94 individuals were removed from the

Younge site (20LP1) in Lapeer County, Mich. The site is located on farmland north of Imlay City and had been

plowed over for years. Between 1923 and 1935, amateur archaeologist Carman Baggerly collected at the site with the landowner’s permission. Baggerly donated many of the human remains and objects to the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology (UMMAA) over that period. These donations prompted a

UMMAA excavation of the site that occurred from July 19 to November 5, 1935, under the direction of Wilbert

Hinsdale and Emerson Greenman. The human remains date to the Late Woodland Period (900–1300 A.D.) based on objects found at the site. No known individuals were identified.

The planned repatriation and reburial will be executed in cooperation with the Michigan Anishinaabek Cultural Preservation & Repatriation Alliance (MACPRA), Chippewa-Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation of Montana, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma.

 The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan invites the interested public to join them for the Recommitment to the Earth Ceremony to be held on Wednesday, November 19 at 12pm in the Tribe’s Nibokaan Ancestral Cemetery. The cemetery was established in 1995 for the explicit purpose of reburying repatriated Native American ancestral human remains and associated funerary objects. The Nibokaan Cemetery is located on the Saginaw Chippewa’s Isabella Indian Reservation, behind the Tribal Campground located at 7525 East Tomah Rd., Mt. Pleasant, Mich. A Journey Feast to conclude the ancestral ceremonies and protocols will be held at 2pm on Wednesday, November 19 at the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways, 6650 East Broadway, Mt. Pleasant, Mich.

 The Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways in Mount Pleasant, Mich. is the Midwest’s Premier American Indian Museum. Established in 2004, the Ziibiwing Center is a distinctive treasure created to provide an enriched, diversified and culturally relevant educational experience through its award-winning Diba Jimooyung (Telling Our Story) permanent exhibit, changing exhibits, research center, Ojibwe language immersion room, gift shop and meeting rooms. The Ziibiwing Center is a non-profit cultural center and museum belonging to the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan who also own Michigan’s only four diamond casino resort, the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, and the Saganing Eagles Landing Casino located in Standish, Mich.

Contact:

Frank Cloutier, Public Relations Director

fcloutier@sagchip.org