A museum in Michigan kept the remains of a Native infant in a Quaker Oats container, the cultural preservation director for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians said.
Winnay Wemigwase and other tribal members visited the Grand Rapids Public Museum to look over the collection. The group knew they would come across their ancestors and other items but they didn't expect to find a full skeleton of an infant in the box.
“In this profession, sometimes you have to keep things light and stay removed, but that just ended that,” Wemigwase told The .Petoskey News-Review. “For me, it was almost like that stomach dropping feeling ... it felt like all the air was taken out of the room.”
The Little Traverse Bay Bands and other tribes in Michigan are hoping to rebury their ancestors and artifacts. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Review Committee has recommended repatriation but a final decision is up to the Interior Department.
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(The Petoskey News-Review 11/24)
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