Remains, cultural items to be repatriated to Maine tribes

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The Yale Peabody Museum at Yale University plans to return several cultural items and a set of human remains to tribes in Maine after completing an inventory under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The remains were removed from a shell mound in the area of Oak Point on Deer Isle in Hancock County between 1948 and 1952 by H. Gordon Rowe. The remains were donated to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1969 by Rowe’s wife.

The museum has now determined a cultural affiliation between the remains and several Native American tribes: the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Penobscot Nation.

The museum also plans to repatriate eight cultural items associated with the same tribes.

That includes three gouges removed from Stevens Cemetery in Knox County around 1915 by archaeologist Warren K. Moorehead.

Another gouge was removed from Hathaway’s Cemetery in Penobscot County by Moorehead during an archaeological survey in Maine between 1912 and 1920 and later donated to the Yale Peabody Museum in 1926.

The museum will also repatriate a spearhead and a plummet from Emerson Cemetery, a spearhead from Hartford’s Cemetery, and red ochre from Sullivan Falls Cemetery, all in Hancock County, that were all collected during Moorehead’s survey.

The items are classified as unassociated funerary objects, meaning they were originally placed with or near human remains as part of Native American death rites or ceremonies.

Repatriation of the remains and items is scheduled to occur on or after Dec. 12, 2024, pending requests from the affiliated tribes or lineal descendants.

https://www.wabi.tv/2024/11/12/remains- ... ne-tribes/