Years later, Chickasaw remains returning to Mississippi home

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A man and a woman were found buried among wolf teeth and turtle shells. Other graves contained mothers and infants. Some tribal members were laid to rest with beloved dogs.

Over the last century, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has stored the remains of hundreds of Native Americans who once inhabited the state. Most of the remains were found in the Mississippi Delta and range from 750 to 1,800 years old. For decades, they sat on shelves in the state's collections.

Now, 403 Chickasaw ancestors have been returned to their people and will be laid in their final resting place on Mississippi soil.

This initiative is the largest of its kind conducted by the state of Mississippi since the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, three decades ago.

Since 1990, federal law has required that institutions like museums and schools that receive federal funding return human remains, funerary objects and other sacred items to their Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian descendants.

“We see the repatriation process as an act of love," said Amber Hood, Director of Historic Preservation and Repatriation for The Chickasaw Nation. “These are our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins from long ago.”

Through the years, enactment of NAGPRA has moved faster in some states than others. Around 83,000 remains in the U.S. had been returned to descendants as of this fall, according to data provided to The Associated Press by the National Park Service. But at least another 116,000 ancestors are still waiting to be returned.

Anne Amati, NAGPRA coordinator with the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, said institutions in southeastern U.S. house more remains than anywhere...