About the title
The title repeats “Apache” in error and describes “early efforts”. Repatriation, the formal return of ancestors and certain objects to Native nations, is a mostly modern development. The principal United States law, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), was passed in 1990. This article explains in general terms what that law does and how it relates to Apache cultural preservation. It does not describe specific cases or sacred items, which are matters for the nations concerned.
How remains and objects left communities
During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, human remains, burial goods and ceremonial items from Native communities were collected in large numbers by museums, military personnel, scientists and private collectors. Graves were sometimes opened without consent, and objects were purchased, taken or sold under unequal circumstances. Many ended up far from home in museum storerooms or private collections. For Apache communities, as for others, this was a harm in its own right, because respect for the dead and for the proper handling of sacred things is central to many traditions.
Care around death is a sensitive subject in many Apache communities. Customs concerning the dead are generally not discussed publicly, and this article does not try to describe them; the broader subject is introduced under Apache mourning customs.
What NAGPRA does
In general terms, NAGPRA requires federal agencies, and museums and other institutions that receive federal funds, to do several things.
- Prepare summaries and inventories of Native American human remains and certain objects in their collections.
- Consult with tribes and lineal descendants about those holdings.
- Return items to the appropriate parties when a valid claim is made.
The law covers four groups of items: human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony, meaning items with ongoing importance to a nation as a whole. It also contains provisions about discoveries on federal and tribal lands. The rules have been revised and clarified over time, so exact procedures should be checked against current federal guidance.
Why repatriation belongs in preservation
It is easy to treat repatriation as a legal matter alone, but for many communities it is also a cultural one. Returning ancestors allows them to be cared for according to the community’s own practices. Returning Apache sacred objects can restore items that are meant to be used, tended or retired by those with the right knowledge, rather than displayed. Even when only part of a collection is returned, the process often reopens conversations between elders, tribal staff and younger people about what is owed to the past.
The related question of how objects and records are displayed or stored by others, and what communities can do about it, is part of the discussion of Apache museum collections.
Complications
Repatriation is rarely quick or simple. Several issues commonly arise.
- Cultural affiliation can be hard to establish. Apache groups moved, intermarried and were relocated by government action, so the claimant for an item might be one nation or several, and the nations involved may cooperate with each other. The Chiricahua, for instance, are today represented by more than one community.
- Old records are sometimes incomplete or inaccurate, so a collection’s history has to be pieced together.
- The law does not reach everything. Private collections, and institutions that receive no federal funds, are largely outside its scope, and items already sold abroad are another difficulty.
- Responsibility for the work usually falls on small tribal staffs, with limited funding and many other duties.
Keeping it private
When items or remains are returned, the details are generally kept within the community. Reburial or care of the returned ancestors is not a public event, and the nature and location of sacred items are usually not made public. This is not secrecy for its own sake; it is a way of respecting the dead and protecting places and objects from further disturbance. Readers who encounter detailed claims online about what was returned or how should treat them with caution.
Protection of places is a related theme, and the broader issue is explored under Apache sacred site protection.
Finding current information
Nations handle repatriation through their own cultural or historic preservation offices, and each has its own policies. For reliable and current information, consult the official website of the nation concerned, and for the text of the law and its regulations, official federal sources.