The Return of the Ahayu: Da: Lessons for Repatriation from Zuni Pueblo and the Smithsonian Institution [And Comments and Replies] Author(S): William L
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The Return of the Ahayu: da: Lessons for Repatriation from Zuni Pueblo and the Smithsonian Institution [and Comments and Replies] Author(s): William L. Merrill, Edmund J. Ladd, T. J. Ferguson, Elizabeth Cruwys, Alan S. Downer, Christian F. Feest, Charlotte J. Frisbie, Joyce Herold, Schuyler Jones, Robert Layton and Larry J. Zimmerman Reviewed work(s): Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 34, No. 5 (Dec., 1993), pp. 523-567 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2744272 . Accessed: 26/10/2012 12:37 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The University of Chicago Press and Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Current Anthropology. http://www.jstor.org CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 34, Number 5, December I993 ? I993 by The Wenner-GrenFoundation forAnthropological Research. All rightsreserved OOII-3204/93/3405-0002$4.50 can Indians, vol. io, edited by Alfonso Ortiz (Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, I983), "The Raramuri Stereotype of Dreams," in Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological In- The Returnof terpretations,edited by Barbara Tedlock (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress, i987), and "Conversion and Colonialism in NorthernMexico: The Tarahumara Response to the JesuitMis- theAhayu :da sion Program,I60I-I767," in Conversion to Christianity:Histor- ical and Anthropological Perspectives on a Great Transforma- tion, edited by Robert W. Hefner (Berkeley: University of California Press, I993). Lessons forRepatriation EDMUND J. LADD is curator of ethnology at the Museum of In- dian Arts and Culture, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, N.M., fromZuni Pueblo and the a position he has held since I984. Born in I926, he was educated at the Universityof New Mexico (B.S., I955; M.S., i963). He served as Pacific Archaeologist forthe National Park Service in SmithsonianInstitution' Hawaii formany years. His publications include "Zuni Social and Political Organization" and "Zuni Economy" in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 9, edited by Alfonso Ortiz (Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, I979), "Pueblo by William L. Merrill,Edmund Use of High-AltitudeAreas: Emphasis on the A:shiwi," in High- AltitudeAdaptations in the Southwest,edited by JosephC. Win- J.Ladd, and T. J.Ferguson ter (Albuquerque: U.S. Forest Service, i983), and numerous tech nical reportson Hawaiian archaeology. T. J. FERGUSON iS directorof Southwest Programsfor the Insti- tute of the NorthAmerican West in Tucson, Arizona. Born in I950, he was educated at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (B.A., In I987, the Smithsonian Institution returnedtwo Ahayu:da I973), theUniversity of Arizona (M.A., I976), and theUniversity (twin gods or war gods) to the Zuni of western New Mexico. Ne- of New Mexico (MCRP, I986; Ph.D., I993). He worked forthe gotiations leading to this repatriationextended over nine years. Pueblo of Zuni as directorof the Zuni Archaeology Programin During this period, a number of issues regardingthe proper cura- I977-8 i and I984-85. He is coauthorwith E. RichardHart of A tion of Zuni objects at the Smithsonian were raised, many of Zuni Atlas (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, I985 ) and which were resolved while others were tabled to be addressed in has published several articles about the Zuni, including "The Im- the future.A detailed historyof these negotiations is presented pact of Federal Policy on Zuni Land Use," in Seasons of the and then analyzed fromthe distinct perspectives of each of the Kachina, edited by Lowell JohnBean (Menlo Park: Ballena Press, authors,who played central roles in the negotiations as a Smith- i989), and "Contemporary Zuni Architectureand Society," with sonian curator,a Zuni anthropologist,and a consulting anthropol- Barbara J.Mills and Calbert Seciwa, in Pueblo Style and Re- ogist hired by the Pueblo of Zuni. This case study offersinsights gional Architecture,edited by WolfgangPreiser, Fred G. Sturm, into the complexities of the repatriationprocess and valuable les- and Nicholas Markovitch (New York: Van Nordstrom Reinhold, sons formuseums and tribes as they begin discussing the return 1990). of cultural propertylegislated by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of I990. The present paper was submitted in final form 20 v 93. WILLIAM L. MERRILL iS curator of western North American eth- nology in the Department of Anthropologyat the National Mu- seum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, In a gentle rain at dusk, the a:pilha:shiwani (bow D.C. 20560, U.S.A). Bornin i950, he was educatedat theUniver- priests)installed two wooden images of the twin gods, sity of North Carolina (A.B., I972) and the Universityof Michi- Ahayu:da, in a shrine on a mesa overlooking Zuni gan (M.A., I975; Ph.D., i98i). He has conducted field and archi- Pueblo. As they sprinkledsacred prayermeal over the val research on northernMexico since I977 and is the author of RaramuriSouls: Knowledgeand Social Processin NorthernMex- Ahayu:da, the priests instructedthem to protect the ico (Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, I988). His A:shiwi (Zuni people) fromharm and use theirpowers publications also include "Tarahumara Social Organization, Polit- to bringfertility and good thingsto all the peoples of ical Organization, and Religion," in Handbook of North Ameri- the world. The year was I987, and the ceremonywas the repetitionof an ancient ritual conducted each De- cember,at the wintersolstice. The monthwas March, I. This article was prepared with the approval of the Zuni Tribal however, and unlike the new Ahayu:da created and Council and the Smithsonian Institution, and the images are re- printedwith the permission of the Zuni Tribe. We are gratefulto placed in shrines everyyear these two were a century FrederickJ. Reuss, Felicia Pickering,Paula Massouh, Roger Anyon, old. They had been removedin the i 88os fromthe Zuni and the staffof the National Anthropological Archives for their Indian Reservationin western New Mexico by Frank assistance in its preparation. We thank the following colleagues Hamilton Cushing and JamesStevenson and eventually for their comments on an earlier draft: Roger Anyon, Timothy placed in the collectionsof the SmithsonianInstitution. Baugh, Alex Boone, Richard Conn, Richard Cowan, Linda Eisen- hart,William Fitzhugh, Tom Freudenheim, Nancy Fuller, Lauryn In I978 the Zuni Tribe began an effortto recoverthese Guttenplan Grant, Candace Greene, JamesHanson, LaDonna Har- and otherAhayu:da, and fornine years theyengaged in ris, E. Richard Hart, Robert Hoffmann,Porter Kier, Marie Malaro, negotiationswith the SmithsonianInstitution to attain BarbaraMills, Andrew Othole, Nancy Parezo, Felicia Pickering,C. thatgoal. When the bow priestsplaced the Ahayu:da in Bryant Rogers, Bruce Smith, William Sturtevant, Paula Taylor, PerryTsadiasi, and Douglas Ubelaker. Funds fortravel required to a shrineon the Zuni Indian Reservation,these gods were complete this article were graciously provided to William Merrill finallyrestored to the purposefor which theywere cre- by the Wenner-GrenFoundation forAnthropological Research. ated in Zuni cultureand society.The repatriatedAhay- 523 524 1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume34, NumberS, December1993 u:da now serve as sentinels forthe Zuni people and as legislationwas the largecollections of AmericanIndian heraldsof a new era in the relationsbetween American human remains and burial goods housed in museums Indians and museums. acrossthe country,most recoveredby archaeologistsand During the past 30 years, the relationshipbetween physicalanthropologists from prehistoric archaeological AmericanIndians and museums has undergonea radical sites. The National Congress of American Indians, the reformulation.From being simply the providersof ob- Native AmericanRights Fund, and othernational Indian jects formuseum collections and the subjects of their organizationsmounted a veryeffective campaign to se- exhibits,American Indian people have begun to play an cure fortribes the rightto have theirancestral remains increasinglyprominent role in planningmuseum exhib- reburiedif they chose to do so. This campaign elicited its and public programs,and a number of tribes have strongsupport in several state legislaturesas well as in establishedtheir own museums (Brascoupe I980; Clif- Congress(Ubelaker and Grant i989). Archaeologistsand fordi988:i89-25i; I99I). A majorexpression of this physicalanthropologists lamented the potentialloss of processcame in I989, when the United States Congress the materialbut organizedno formaleffort to stop the establishedthe National Museum of the American In- legislation.Public reactionwas largelyin supportof the dian as part of the Smithsonian Institution.The last AmericanIndian position. available space on the Mall that stretchesbetween the In addition to reburiallegislation enacted by several U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial was designated states(Yalung and Wala i992), Congressenacted