FWS Catalogues 67 Sets of Remains from Alaskan Isles for Return
Published Date: 3/19/2025
Notice
Summary
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska has finished checking and listing 67 sets of human remains and 338 related items from several islands. These remains and objects are linked to Native tribes, and they can be returned to them starting April 18, 2025. This process respects Native American traditions and helps bring important cultural items back to their communities.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Repatriation available April 18, 2025
You (the Native Village of Atka and affiliated communities) may have 67 sets of human remains and 338 associated funerary objects from Agattu, Amchitka, Shemya, Little Kiska, Nizki, Adak, Buldir, and Attu Islands returned starting April 18, 2025.
Who can request repatriation
Written requests for repatriation may be submitted by any one or more of the Indian Tribes or Native Hawaiian organizations named in this notice, or by any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not named who shows by a preponderance of the evidence that they have cultural affiliation. If competing requests are received, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will determine the most appropriate requestor; joint requests are treated as a single request. Repatriation may occur on or after April 18, 2025.
Where remains are housed now
The human remains and associated funerary objects are currently held in museum collections, including the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks, AK, and the Museum of the Aleutians in Unalaska, AK; some items were previously held at the Peabody Museum and later transferred. Contact information for repatriation inquiries is provided to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Region (Jeremy M. Karchut, Anchorage, AK).
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