Beyond Ethical, Legal and Practical Considerations: Unprovenienced Archaeological Items at Descendant Tribal Heritage Centers and Museums

Summary

This is an abstract from the "To Curate or Not to Curate: Surprises, Remorse, and Archaeological Grey Area" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The mission of the Huhugam Heritage Center, which is both a tribal and federal repository, is to "ensure our Akimel O’otham and Pee Posh cultures flourish for future generations." This includes not just the physical remains of ancestral culture, but the cultural practices themselves. While we care for the ancestors’ items by current preservation and management standards, we also prioritize accepting and caring for them in a way that is culturally appropriate. As a tribal museum and cultural gathering place, the Huhugam Heritage Center must ensure it feels culturally safe for O’otham and Pee Posh guests, while also sometimes serving as a "repository of last resort." Because unprovenienced archaeological Huhugam (Hohokam) items with unclear histories may have come from burial contexts, the decisions around them have an even greater complexity for us than ethical, legal and practical considerations alone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• To Curate or Not to Curate: Surprises, Remorse, and Archaeological Grey Area

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24719