Chicago Museum Returns 64 Ancient Native Burial Items to Tribes
Published Date: 4/18/2025
Notice
Summary
The Field Museum in Chicago plans to return 64 ancient Native American items, like bowls and arrow points, to the Hopi and Zuni Tribes. These items were taken from a site in Arizona over 120 years ago and are connected to Native American burial traditions. The repatriation could start on or after May 19, 2025, with no costs or hazards involved.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Field Museum to Return 64 Native Items
The Field Museum intends to return 64 unassociated funerary objects (bowls, jars, mugs, ladles, and a fossilized wood arrow point) that were removed from Homolovi II, Navajo County, Arizona in 1897. These items are affiliated with the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and the Zuni Tribe of the Zuni Reservation, New Mexico, and repatriation may occur on or after May 19, 2025; the notice states there are no known hazardous substances in the items.
Who May Request Repatriation and How
Any lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization not named in the notice may submit a written request for these 64 cultural items if they show by a preponderance of the evidence that they are a lineal descendant or culturally affiliated. If competing requests are received, the Field Museum must decide the most appropriate requestor before repatriation; joint requests count as a single request.
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