by Devon A. Mihesuah

About the author: Devon A. Mihesuah is an associate professor of American Indian history at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.

Among the many problems American Indians have to contend with today is the removal of their ancestors' remains along with sacred tribal items from burial grounds for the purpose of scientific study and museum display, or for sale through the underground market and at auctions. The argument between Indians who want Indian skeletal remains and funerary objects repatriated (or "matriated," as one Indian puts it) and anthropologists who do not, is a volatile one, taking on emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and monetary elements. For black-market grave robbers, the issue appears to be purely monetary.

Throughout the years, I have heard or read the same statements at committee meetings, conferences, and in the scholarly literature:

"Indians...