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Santa Maria Sun / News

The following article was posted on December 21st, 2016, in the Santa Maria Sun - Volume 17, Issue 42 [ Submit a Story ]
The following articles were printed from Santa Maria Sun [santamariasun.com] - Volume 17, Issue 42

UCLA museum to return burial artifacts to the Santa Ynez Chumash

By DAVID MINSKY

Objects excavated by UCLA archeologists from sites along the Central Coast in 1978 are to be returned to the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. 

The public notice issued by the U.S. National Park Service on Dec. 9 identified 132 cultural items, mostly burial objects, which were removed from the site in the Lindero Canyon region of Ventura County and curated at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. 

The excavation took place on land privately owned by the Prudential Insurance Company, according to the notice. 

Rheta Resnick, who was a UCLA master's student investigating the site at the time, told the Sun that the remnants of a Chumash village were discovered but remained inaccessible because the site was underneath Highway 101. 

"We couldn't get into the area because it was under the road," Resnick said. "We were just under the side peripheral area."

A cemetery was found during the excavations, along with 13 burials that were left in place, although the burial objects were removed for study. 

They include 126 objects and six bags of artifacts, including 12 pieces and four bags of shell fragments, two shell beads, 62 stone flakes, one cobble, three quartz crystals, 41 pieces and two bags of unmodified animal bone, four ochre fragments, and one
charcoal lump. 

The notice stated that UCLA officials found that groups related to the present-day Chumash placed the objects. 

Calls and emails placed to the Fowler Museum by the Sun weren't returned before press time. 

The Fowler Museum is responsible for notifying the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, but a Chumash spokesperson wasn't aware of the notice until contacted by the Sun

When asked to comment, the Chumash chairman said they are more than happy to work with the Fowler Museum to repatriate the objects.

"The reburial of our ancestors is an important part of Chumash culture," Kenneth Kahn, chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, said in an emailed statement. "We will keep in the traditions of our culture as we welcome these sacred objects and artifacts home."

Lineal descendants not listed in the notice who wish to make a claim to any of the objects must submit a written request to the Fowler Museum by Jan. 9, 2017. To make a claim, contact Wendy G. Teeter at (310) 825-1864. 










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