With the passage in 1990 of the poorly crafted Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Congress unwittingly unleashed the latest chapter in the struggle between
American Indians and their European conquerors that has lasted since Columbus stepped ashore on San Salvador.
In a little volume that covers a lot of history, one of America’s most prominent archaeologists, David Hurst Thomas of New York’s American Museum of Natural History, surveys American Indian policy from Thomas Jefferson, the first American archaeologist, to the courtroom battles of today. He documents,in a highly-readable narrative, the relations between Natives and the anthropologists who study them.
Archaeologists have at times been grisly exploiters who collected Indian skeletons with little or no regard for ancestral sensitivities. At other times, anthropologists have been in the vanguard of shaping national policy to understand, preserve, and protect Native people and culture. In his desire to be even-handed, Thomas can be forgiven for failing to ask where the Indian leaders were when archaeologists were pressing for laws (like the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979) to protect the Indians’heritage.
It is common today for Indian activists to characterize archaeologists as nothing more than grave robbers leading an assault on their traditional histories. Skull Wars puts their rage in historical perspective. At the same time, tribal interest in archaeology is on the rise with new programs and top-notch museums opening across the country. In his optimistic conclusion, Thomas demonstrates how Native and archaeological interests can merge in an era of understanding and mutual respect.
