Tribes’ Ancestral Remains Return Home After Over a Century
>Love DJT (nohomo)
MESA VERDE, Colo. — After nearly 129 years abroad, ancestors of the Hopi, Acoma, Zia
and Zuni tribes finally returned to their home and rightful burial ground in Mesa Verde
National Park in southwest Colorado.
On Sunday, a coalition of tribes including the Hopi Tribe, the Pueblo of Acoma, the Pueblo
of Zia and the Pueblo of Zuni repatriated and reinterred ancestors and funerary items from
a Mesa Verde collection at the National Museum of Finland. The burials followed a four-year
repatriation process that involved cooperation between the U.S. Department of State, the
U.S. embassy in Helsinki and Finnish authorities. The tribes’ efforts to reclaim their ancestors’
remains also came up in a meeting between President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and President
Donald Trump in October 2019.
“Our hearts are happy that our ancestors have made their journey home and are at rest where
they belong. We are thankful to the Finnish government and the National Museum of Finland
and are pleased to have forged this new relationship,” Governor Fredrick Medina of the Pueblo
of Zia said in a statement. “The Pueblo looks forward to continue to work with the National
Museum of Finland to repatriate all items of cultural value and historical importance to their
rightful owners.”
https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/tribes-ancestral-remains-return-home-after-over-a-century