Museum Ships Shell Pendants Back to Native Tribes
Published Date: 3/18/2025
Notice
Summary
The San Bernardino County Museum plans to return 10 special Native American cultural items linked to old burial sites to the rightful tribes starting April 17, 2025. These items, like shell pendants and stone tools, were found in the 1940s and are important to Native American traditions. This move respects Native American heritage and follows the law protecting their ancestral objects.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Museum to Return 10 Ancestral Items
The San Bernardino County Museum intends to repatriate 10 unassociated funerary objects (including ground stone, ceramic sherds, lithic flakes, fire-affected rock, bone awls, abalone shells, shell pendants, unworked shell, green slate, and faunal bone) that were excavated in the early 1940s from Turner Springs Ranch and accessioned in 1962. The museum identifies a cultural affiliation with the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation and repatriation may occur on or after April 17, 2025.
How Tribes or Descendants May Request Items
Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization may submit a written request for repatriation of these items if they show by a preponderance of the evidence that they are a lineal descendant or culturally affiliated; repatriation to a requestor may occur on or after April 17, 2025. If competing requests are received, the San Bernardino County Museum will determine the most appropriate requestor, and joint repatriation requests are treated as a single request.
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