Repatriation to Indigenous groups is more than law, it’s human rights, Wolff writes in ‘The Conversation’
ALBANY, N.Y. (Feb. 13, 2025) — Repatriation, the process of returning ancestral human remains and important objects to descendant populations, is a legal obligation. But for Anthropology Associate Professor Chris Wolff it’s much more than that: It’s about recognizing humanity.
Wolff wrote about his personal experiences with repatriation in an article in The Conversation, the process of returning remains to their rightful cultures and how these efforts can serve as a partial remedy for the historical trauma of Indigenous communities.
Since the passing of the National Museum of the American Indian Act in 1989 and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in 1990, it has become an increasingly important part of archaeological practice, yet about 110,000 ancestors remain in collections.
“One day at work, I found myself looking at an individual who had died several centuries ago, but was so well preserved that his death looked much more recent,” Wolff wrote. “It can be too easy to look at a collection of human bones and forget that they were once a living person, despite trying to teach students otherwise. However, that day I looked down and clearly saw a man: his face painted, his hair neatly done, earrings in his ears, laid out in a beautiful box.”
“Obviously, whoever tended to him after his death had taken great care, placing him in a sacred place where he had every expectation that he would be left undisturbed,” he wrote. “He could not have perceived that centuries later someone would collect his remains and ship him away from his traditional lands to be studied in a museum. That hit home for me. I would not want someone to go against my final wishes, or those of my family, and felt this man should have the same human rights I have in that regard.”
Wolff was first exposed to the process while serving as a repatriation archaeologist for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History from 2009-2011, and in the following years as a professor of archaeology.
While repatriation laws were initially controversial among archaeologists who feared they would limit research opportunities, many have found the process beneficial and believe it has helped to improve relationships with Indigenous communities, Wolff wrote.