Severed from the Landscape: Wrangling Over 100 Years of Collections from the Public Lands and Coordinating Repatriation

Summary

The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) cultural resource responsibilities expand beyond the landscape, to the artifacts recovered from archaeological sites, and the associated records. These "gatherings" under the Antiquities Act and "archaeological resources" under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) were collected in the public interest to be preserved in museums for future generations. Some of these collections may also be sacred and sensitive to descendant communities, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) directs a pathway to return ancestors and cultural property to Indian tribes. Over a century of collecting from the public lands, some under a permit, some without, has left a legacy for the BLM to "manage" millions of items that were dispersed to more than 150 museums and universities. The well-intentioned goals of the Antiquities Act, National Historic Preservation Act, and ARPA place important responsibilities on Federal agencies to be stewards of this heritage, and under NAGPRA, to be agents to uphold tribal rights and facilitate repatriation. This paper illustrates through recent examples the complex challenges in implementing these statutes, navigating occasionally absurd scenarios, and the critical need for partnership with repositories and engagement within the discipline to care for this shared legacy.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21462