Essay On Native American Final Burial

One might not understand what makes one keep moving forward day after day. Nobody gets it unless they have lived in the footsteps of another. Ask any Native American. They have lived a life of others judging and misunderstanding and if they haven't their ancestors have. The Native Americans pass stories down generation by generation so surely they have heard what it was like to be misunderstood. They believe differently than other cultures, yet not one is alike. They have a very complicated and hard to understand system when it comes to their views. The way they view, believe and run their system is never fully understood unless one has grown up with the Native American culture. The religious culture of these people is what holds their

By having requirements to return archaeological findings back to their native tribes entirely, archaeologists are limited in their discoveries and possibly their job. An archaeological discovery is meaningless if it never experiences any practical investigation on whether its characteristics benefit society. For this reason, archaeologists should own the right to keep critically important parts of Kennewick Man’s skull such as his teeth, but return the rest of the skull to the Colville tribe and find an equal compromise. DNA testing should be the first step in deriving information from an archaeological discovery such as a skull, but NAGPRA should give archaeologists the right to keep the most important parts of discoveries for scientific use and then return the remaining parts to the native tribe. In the long run, scientific progress is prevented whenever conflicts emerge over the ownership of archaeological discoveries, therefore Native American tribes should have the courtesy to allow archaeologists to use only specific parts of a specimen and have the remaining parts returned to them if DNA testing comes back positive in relation to their

At some point in our lives, we all come to realize that death is a part of life. Cultural diversity provides a wide variety of lifestyles and traditions for each of the unique groups of people in our world. Within these different cultures, the rituals associated with death and burial can also be uniquely diverse. Many consider ritualistic traditions that differ from their own to be somewhat strange and often perceive them as unnatural. A prime example would be the burial rituals of the Native American people.

Even though this issue has begun to die out of the archaeological spotlight, it is still of importance to every anthropologist. Repatriation has undergone continuous consideration by anthropologists, politicians, and Native Americans alike. Overall, the repatriation process has had a profound effect on the discipline of anthropology and the cultural processes of American Indians, in addition to the politics of anthropology and archaeology in the United States. One of the biggest downfalls of current repatriation legislation is its lack of protection of Archaic and Paleoindian remains and cultural materials. The laws encompass more recent burials, but simply cannot extend their coverage further into the past. While there is still room to improve in creating even stronger policies to rule out uncertainties regarding repatriation, many positives have come from the legislation.

In the novel The Dead, Gabriel Conroy, who is the nephew of Julia and Kate Morkan, is the main character of the story. One night he and his wife attended a party, which was given by his two aunts, and there were many other members in the party. The story revolves around their life and memories.Gabriel Conroy felt a blur between his soul and the dead. Some people died, but they are still alive because they have true love. Some people are alive, but they are still dead because they never love.I like the story for three reasons.

In this paper, we will discuss the different death rituals performed in different cultures. We view death rituals from Native Americans, Africans, those of the Chinese decent, and endocannibalism from the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea. Death is universal to all people in every culture. Responses to how one deals with death and dying differ greatly. Death rituals are usually based on beliefs. This can come from religion, history, language, and art.

Archaeologists can’t just possess any Native American material on their own for research purposes without the consultation of the Native American tribes. To the Native Americans, the past is connected to present. Rebecca Tsosie, a law professor from the Arizona State University mentioned that “The past is very real to contemporary Indian people ans is preserved in oral histories and ongoing ceremonial practices and beliefs.”(66). The native people feel that they’re obligated to take care of their past, they have to honor their ancestors no matter how long ago they have passed away. They believe that they should have the right to stop any behaviors that might desecrate their ancestors. It is very understandable that one might not appreciate someone digging up their grandparents and perform research without permission. Especially to people who practices a religion, this action may be interpreted as the archaeologists trying to disturb the spirits of their ancestors. Not only the remains and objects are important to the Natives, but also their land. Land was considered to be a gift given from the Creator. Just like the ancestral remains the descendants are responsible for their sacred land. It is believed that “The land is complete with sacred teachings, marked by tribal history, and places of interrelations to the powerful beings of the nature-spirit world.” (Champagne). The Native Americans do not have the need to know the truth, all they care is to ensure spiritual peace to their ancestors and to pass on the legacy of their own

Due to the wide range of habitats in North America, different native religions evolved to match the needs and lifestyles of the individual tribe. Religious traditions of aboriginal peoples around the world tend to be heavily influenced by their methods of acquiring food, whether by hunting wild animals or by agriculture. Native American spirituality is no exception. Traditional Lakota spirituality is a form of religious belief that each thing, plant and animal has a spirit. The Native American spirituality has an inseparable connection between the spirituality and the culture. One cannot exist without the other.

As children growing up in the United States, educated through our public schools, we learned about the institution of slavery, which was an integral part of life in our country for nearly 300 years. We do not usually question the historical facts we learned about slavery or ask how we know so much about the history of these people (the enslaved Africans in America) who left behind so little written record. In the classroom, archeologists do not receive much credit, but it is largely through their work and research that we have been able to learn about “America’s diverse ethnic heritage” (Singleton 155). In the 1960’s, excavations of slave cabins

Laura, this is an excellent discussion post. I thought you made some great points. However, I disagree with you. I do not think that there should be some regulation when it comes to fossil discovery. I believe that even if someone is an amateur fossil hunter, and they find a sacred fossils, they should be able to do as they please. I believe in the saying, "finders keepers, losers weepers." While this could be considered childish and juvenile, I believe that if you find a fossil that does not belong to anyone, you should be able to do what you please with it.

Sometimes the controversy goes beyond disagreement on factual information, such as the age of humanity or source of Earth’s creation, and how we cover this information in schools. In the case of certain American Indian groups, there has been conflict in the actual excavation of artifacts, preventing physical evidence from being utilized for limitless amounts of scientific conclusion. There has been disharmony in the idea of ownership and increased distrust, which is most likely in part due to the American Indians’ deeply regrettable historic relationship with the United States government.

The motive of the modern researches are that they think the skeletal remains should have been kept because they should stay safe. For decades the skeletal remains of humans from unmarked graves have been dug up for archaeological excavations. These remains have been collected by museums, universities, and government agencies. The majority of those remains being descendents of Native Americans. These museums, universities, government agencies, and physical anthropologists would pay for stolen remains and display them as a trophy of their studies, while the Native Americans motive was to get the remains back for tradition. They wanted their ancestors skeletal remains back so they could have a proper reburial. Their motives were related to their culture and religion, not just for their own greed like the

Kennewick Man has been an ongoing controversy among the archaeologists and Native American communities. Scientists believe that the studying of Kennewick Man is crucial to understanding the earliest of human history on the American continent, as he provides a rare opportunity to look at well preserved, mostly intact, ancient American remains. They feel that repatriation should not occur until they are able to study the skeleton enough to identify which cultural group he belongs to. Native American communities disagree, as they feel that scientists and the public disregard and disrespect the value of their religious beliefs. However, remains should not be repatriated to a Native group of it is unclear what group they belong to. Archaeologists

Kennewick man should not be repatriated because we don’t even know if he is Native and the case was delayed, and we could learn much more about washington through Kennewick Man. There are many different pieces of evidence that supports that Kennewick Man is not Native. The constitution delayed the case a whole lot. Finally, the DNA was all intact so we could learn a lot about Washington. We should sign a petition to have Kennewick Man back in scientists hands! The possibilities are endless with our new ways of studying and

Although, there are very many versions of your body being taken care of after death, being cremated is a quick way to handle a deceased body, it’s convenient for everyone involved there are many different ways and options of how someone would want to be cremated, therefore cremation is the superior method of a deceased body.