FRANKFORT — At the beginning of the year, the Kentucky Department of Parks published an online federal notice that state officials planned to return hundreds of Native American burial artifacts from a museum at the Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park in Nicholas County.  The department was following new federal regulations from the Biden administration under the decades-old Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), established to require institutions to repatriate Indigenous remains and cultural items excavated from grave sites. America’s biggest museums fail to return Native American human remains According to ProPublica reporting, NAGPRA’s enforcement had been hampered since it was established in 1990 due to limited funding and institutions’ unwillingness to turn over such remains and artifacts. The revamped rules sought to speed up the process by giving more deference to tribes’ knowledge of their histories and regions in the decision-making process on reparations.  One of the three federally recognized tribes associated with the Shawnee people claimed the artifacts, and the artifacts are awaiting repatriation. But in the months since state officials started the process, locals with a group supporting the park have raised concerns and accusations about the transparency of the process — claims that Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet officials strongly refute. The months-long conflict came to a head in a legislative committee hearing Thursday afternoon as state lawmakers sought to hear from both cabinet officials and Friends of Blue Licks State Park, whose concerns were supported by Sen. Stephen West, R-Paris, and Rep. William Lawrence, R-Maysville.  Sen. Stephen West, center, and Rep. William Lawrence, right, are joined by local park supporters who have concerns about the repatriation process. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer) Shawnee Tribe Chief Benjamin Barnes, who sat in the back of the committee room at the Capitol Annex building but chose not to testify, told the Lantern he was willing to help the legislature on the issue and be a “friend of the park.” But he said his tribe has “been waiting since 1990 to complete this work” of repatriation.  “It’s been 34 years of waiting for compliance,” Barnes said. “We’re here to do that work now.” The artifacts to be repatriated Sarah Cronan, the general counsel for the cabinet, and Jennifer Spence, the curator for Kentucky State Parks, explained to lawmakers that the 274 artifacts from the park’s Pioneer Museum were originally bought by the state in 1949 from a man who helped found the museum.  Spence said that man, William Curtis, had obtained the artifacts either by excavating grave sites himself or obtaining them “from others who looted graves.” She said most of the artifacts come from the Fox Farm archaeological site in Mason County. “During Curtis’s time, Fox Farm was often called ‘bony field’ because farming activities frequently disturbed burials, uncovering both Native American remains and the objects buried with them,” Spence said. Spence, who showcased newspaper clippings from the early 20th century about the excavations, said Curtis in 1925 excavated 125 Native American remains at the Fox Farm site along with funerary items including pottery, discs, shells, gorgets, beads, pendants and more. She said while items such as pottery may seem “unconventional” as funerary items, they were “traditional inclusions” in burials.  Sarah Cronan and Jennifer Spence with the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet speak to lawmakers about the repatriation process at Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park. (Kentucky Lantern Photo by Liam Niemeyer) “Likewise today, in modern burials, we often include personal items such as jewelry, military medals, stuffed animals, books or photographs, items that hold special meaning, meaning to our loved ones,” Spence said.  Spence said Curtis also kept detailed records about the artifacts in his collection. Among the artifacts taken by Curtis from excavations that eventually ended up in the state museum, according to Spence: Two copper bracelets taken from the arms of a skeleton in a burial mound in Mason County. A string of twelve beads taken from the neck of a skeleton at Fox Farm.  Shell gorgets from a grave at Fox Farm which were “found with two full grown skeletons lying side by side and a child apparently lying across them.”  Cronan told lawmakers that Congress enacted NAGPRA “in response to the digging up and looting of Indian graves all over the United States, including right here in Kentucky.” She pointed to looting that damaged an archaeological site in Union County in the 1980s. Cronan also said the Kentucky Department of Parks received a demand letter in June from the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, asking about the department’s current processes and pace of repatriations.  “The senator stated in this letter that delayed repatriation is delayed justice for the native peoples,” Cronan said.  Cronan pointed to potential civil penalties that Kentucky could be subject to if repatriations are delayed. She said the artifacts were currently in state custody awaiting to be collected by the Shawnee Tribe. Accusations by local park supporters But some state lawmakers voiced concerns shared by supporters of Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park that the cabinet hasn’t gone about the process in a transparent manner. West, a Republican who represents Nicholas County in the Senate, said the Friends of Blue Licks State Park group hadn’t received information on timetables for when the repatriation was going to take place nor evidence associated with each artifact.  “What is the rush?” West said. “The cabinet doesn’t just represent the Shawnee Tribe, in all due deference to the tribe. They represent this commonwealth of Kentucky. The friends of the park are taxpayers of the state of Kentucky, and so all they’re asking for is transparency and an opportunity to ask questions.”  Paula Hunter, the chair of the Friends of Blue Licks State Park group, claimed that state officials were not being transparent with the reparation process because the original federal notice was posted online and not in local newspapers. Dennis Vesper, an archaeologist and former member of the Kentucky Heritage Council, also claimed that there was no “DNA evidence” that connects the artifacts to the Shawnee Tribe.  Hunter advocated for the artifacts to remain displayed at the state park’s museum. Cronan, the state attorney, said state officials asked the Shawnee Tribe multiple times if the artifacts could continue to be displayed, but the tribe declined.  When asked by Rep. Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington, if the assertions made by the Friends of the Blue Licks State Park were accurate, Cronan said she disagreed with the group’s characterization of the process. Cronan had told lawmakers earlier the cabinet wanted to “clear up the misinformation” about the cabinet’s efforts to repatriate the artifacts.  “Parks has communicated with all stakeholders about its repatriation efforts. This includes state legislators, federal congressional representatives, local county judges and local county attorneys and members of the Blue Licks Friends group,” Cronan said.  In committee testimony, West said the cabinet had sent letters to local county attorneys and county judge-executives but that “there were no personal meetings or anything of that nature.” Barnes, the Shawnee Tribe chief, told the Lantern there was no way to get DNA connected to the artifacts “unless you violate the bones further.”   “Do we want to grind up your deceased grandparents? You know, I don’t think that’s appropriate,” Barnes said. “We know these are Shawnee people. We can trace it not just in history books. We can find it in archeological record.”  “We want to be sure that we’re involved in how the commonwealth tells the story of Indian country,” Barnes said.  The park is named for one of the last battles of the American Revolution, fought on Aug. 19, 1782, after the British had surrendered to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. British loyalists and Delaware, Huron and Shawnee warriors defeated Kentucky  militia, some of whom were led by Daniel Boone, in a battle that lasted about 15 minutes, according to American Battlefield Trust. YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. The post Shawnee Tribe wants burial artifacts repatriated from Kentucky park. Lawmakers question process. appeared first on The Lexington Times.