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Bury my bones at Wounded Knee
National Review, May 27, 1991 by Clement W. Meighan
Having identified himself as a troublemaker, Van Horn was targeted for further persecution by the state attorney general's office, which filed a felony suit against him for a subsequent project. His crime: during a contract study bits of burned bone were found near Indio; these were sent to a laboratory for identification and some were identified as parts of a human cremation, at which point Van Horn sent all the materials to the property owner and notified him of his obligations to the Native American Heritage Commission. The Riverside County prosecutor argued that archaeologists had no legal right to remove or study any human remains, and that the archaeologist and his employee were therefore guilty of a felony, even though their study was compelled by another set of laws and their contract was to comply with those laws. After a three-day hearing, Presiding Judge B. J. Bjork ruled that there was no eveidence of a felony, and the case was thrown out. However, the archaeologists are out the thousands of dollars they spent to defend themselves (once) again the Indian interests were entirely supported by the taxpayers).
California is as usual in the forefront on this issue, but several other states have legislation governing Indian claims for museum materials, and President Bush recently signed a federal bill dealing with this matter. It may be that the federal legislation will reach a middle ground addressing the legitimate concerns of all factions. However, the basic question remains whether evidences of ancient history are to be preserved in the public interest, or whether they are private property--or exclusively the property of special-interest groups.
Mr. Meighan is a professor of anthropology at UCLA.
COPYRIGHT 1991 National Review, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning
