Native American pipes in the British Museum

[nemesis]

I wonder if there is already stuff written about these artefacts?  Google wasn't helpful but I don't have much information to go on.

I was recently at the British Museum where they have a gallery devoted to Native artefacts.  Among these what appeared to be a sacred pipe of some description, which was displayed prominently in a cabinet with a number or it but with no accompanying text.

The pipe was quite large with feathers attached and on the underside of the bowl was a small axe head.

A friend took a photo on his mobile I will see if I can get it posted here.

I was wondering if anyone had any information about the pipe and the rightful owners?

I was very upset to see such a sacred object (if that it what is was - maybe it was a replica?) displayed in a case in a museum.

While googling I came across another pipe that I don't recall seeing during my visit, apparently a religious pipe in the shape of an otter's head

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/KHWt6IknQnGuPCzNbD-ZRw

I am curious to understand more about these objects, especially with regard to how they ended up in a Museum thousands of miles away from their rightful owners.

Thanks

[Ric_Richardson]

Tansi;

The pipe with an axe head underneath sounds like one of the trade items that the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company used, in the fur trade.  I would like to see a photo, since we also have one, in our home.  They were often made of steel or brass.

In recent years, I believe in the 70's and 80's, there were replicas created and sold, mostly by the Bay.
Ric

[Teacher]

I was sickened by the comments that we left after Gabrielle Tayac commented about the sacredness of the pipes.  Again we see people with absolutely NO TIES to Amerindians thinking that all ceremonies and items are theirs for the taking.   

[ValSu]

I am not NA but for the showing of any sacred objects I find upsetting; even if a replica.

Regarding pipes, I thought to display the pipes; the catlinite/pipestone bowls should never be displayed or left in the open when not in use attached to the stem. Is this correct?

[earthw7]

I am not NA but for the showing of any sacred objects I find upsetting; even if a replica.

Regarding pipes, I thought to display the pipes; the catlinite/pipestone bowls should never be displayed or left in the open when not in use attached to the stem. Is this correct?

Yes that is correct, over in Britian they have many of our artifacts, but there is no law to make them return them.
The have four medicine men who they pickled in big barrels in a museum over there too we cant bring them home.

[critter - a white non-ndn person]

The have four medicine men who they pickled in big barrels in a museum over there too we cant bring them home.

OMG! That's horrific!  International law doesn't cover this kind of thing? OMG.. there are no words..

[Defend the Sacred]

The have four medicine men who they pickled in big barrels in a museum over there too we cant bring them home.

I am speechless. People over there need to get on this. They should picket that museum and annoy the press till this is dealt with. LaDonna, if you want to post or send me the info on what museum and who is being kept there, I will see if I can help.

I feel sick. I am so sorry they did this to your ancestors. It's horrifying and evil. It's inhuman.

[nemesis]

Tansi;

The pipe with an axe head underneath sounds like one of the trade items that the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company used, in the fur trade.  I would like to see a photo, since we also have one, in our home.  They were often made of steel or brass.

In recent years, I believe in the 70's and 80's, there were replicas created and sold, mostly by the Bay.
Ric

Thanks Ric

My friend is abroad at the moment but I will see if I can get the photo from him, and then I will post it here.

[nemesis]

The have four medicine men who they pickled in big barrels in a museum over there too we cant bring them home.

I am also speechless.

I am aware of the long term issues regarding Maori tattooed heads that were kept in museums until very recently but was unaware of any medicine men kept in a UK museum.

I would be interested to know more as I think most people here know nothing about it and would be horrified to know the truth.


Interesting and important link to a paper titled
Freedom, Law, and Prophecy: A Brief History of Native American Religious Resistance
By Lee Irwin

http://www.scribd.com/doc/2290675/Freedom-Law-Prophecy-of-Native-Americans

The following text is especially relevant

In 1979, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) attempted to
redress the 1906 Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities by ruling that permits
must be obtained for excavations of sites more than one hundred years old, that consent
must be obtained for any work on tribal Indian lands by tribal landowners, and that
work on public lands held to be sacred by any tribes requires those tribes to be noti?ed
before any permits are granted. However, human remains on federal lands are still
“archaeological resources” and “property of the United States” which, if excavated
under federal permit, can be “preserved by a suitable university, museum or other
scienti?c or educational institution.”41 This act still undercuts the rights of Native
peoples to claim legitimate control over ancestral dead territorially identi?ed as under
federal jurisdiction and inhibits religious claims about how those ancestral dead (now
or previously unearthed) should be treated.
In 1987, the National Park Service issued a policy statement in response to
AIRFA, to explore means for integrating the needs of Native religious practitioners into
park resource management. The statement clearly says that Native religious claims
“must be within the bounds of existing legislation as well asNFS rules and policies”
thereby subordinating Native religious needs and practices to pre-existing government
regulations.42 Also in 1987, the Iroquois Recognition Bill was passed “to acknowledge
the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of Nations in the development of the

United States Constitution and to reaf?rm the continuing government-to-government
relationship between tribes and the United States established in the Constitution.” In
1989, the National Museum of the American Indian Act (NMAIA) provided for the
repatriation of Native human remains collected by the Smithsonian Institution to
American Indian tribes upon tribal request. The Smithsonian must inventory and,
where possible, identify its collection of remains (18,000), notify appropriate tribal
groups, and return them if the tribes requests — Blackfeet reburial of 16 ancestral
remains occurred in 1989; and 700 remains presently are being returned to Kodiak
Island cemetery.43 Previous to this, in the 1980s, the Denver Art Museum returned War
Gods to the Zuni; the Heard Museum in Phoenix returned Kiva masks to Hopi elders;
the Wheelwright Museum returned 11 medicine bundles to Navajo; the State Museum
of New York in Albany returned 12 wampum belts to Six Nation Confederacy and a
clan bundle to the Hidatsa; the Boston Peabody Museum returned the sacred pole (plus
270 other artifacts) to the Omaha; and many others have made nominal returns as well.
But many museums and institutions have ignored requests. For example, the Iroquois
request for return of all their sacred masks has not been met.44
In 1990, Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was
passed. This act protects Indian gravesites from looting and requires repatriation of all
culturally identi?able tribal artifacts. According to the act, museums must inventory
collections and notify tribes of their holdings. Legal procedures are established for
reclaiming artifacts, though claimants must meet strict legal tests.45 However, NAGPRA
does not apply to state land or private property. By 1991, thirty-two states had laws that
dealt with reburial and repatriation of ancestral prehistoric remains; but there is little
consistency among the laws passed and many do not involve goods found on private
property.46 As Walter and Roger Echo-Hawk have written, “criminal statues in all ?fty
states very strictly prohibit grave desecration, grave robbing, and mutilation of the dead
—yet they are not applied to protect Indian dead . . . [Native dead are still] ‘federal
property’ to be used as chattels in the academic marketplace.”47

Link about the Maori heads
http://au.news.yahoo.com/entertainment/a/-/entertainment/8771111/n-z-museum-mulls-options-for-mummified-maori-heads/

[Hair lady]

Well a pipe is a living thing. But it has to be woken up..I don´t beleive that every pipe is sacred.  There are many different kinds of pipes.

Sacred pipes, which are sacred to many different Native peoples, personal pipe just to smoke with, warrior pipes, womens pipes, ect...

There are sacred items displayed all over the world in different musems, from diffiernt cultures, we can get angry about it, but we need to know why we are angry..

Why is the pipe sacred? Is that particular pipe sacred?  Research is needed.  I personly do not find a pipe that was made in china sacred for example.

Just my personal opinion..

[RunsWithScissorz]

The have four medicine men who they pickled in big barrels in a museum over there too we cant bring them home.

That's an abomination!  Does anyone know *who* they are?  They may have living descendants, too.

The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC used to have the mummy of an NDN woman on display.  That was in the 1980's -- don't know what tribe.  Does anyone know whether Smithsonian has returned such to any tribe/s? 

[Hair lady]

If they had some white celts pickeled in jars would you also be angry?   What about Otzi the 10,000 year old man they found in the Alps?

What about Lucy the woman they found in Africa?  What about all the egyptian mummies that they have? Shouldn´t we be concerned about that too?

[Laurel]

If they had some white celts pickeled in jars would you also be angry?   What about Otzi the 10,000 year old man they found in the Alps?

What about Lucy the woman they found in Africa?  What about all the egyptian mummies that they have? Shouldn´t we be concerned about that too?

No, we should not be concerned, because (apparently) the descendants/relatives of the people you named have expressed no anger at their ancestors' remains being used in this way. To me, that's the difference between grave robbing and anthropology. You've said that some pipes are sacred and some are not. Likewise, some human remains are sacred and some are not. The people who get to decide which are sacred are the people who made the pipes/are of the same  community as the dead folks. They tell us what's sacred to them. (How else could we know?)

If they had your great-grandmother "pickled in a jar," wouldn't you be angry? Especially if nobody asked her or hers how she wanted her body dealt with after she died? And if you weren't angry, would that give you the right to pickle my great-grandmother over my objections?

(To drag Lucy into it is silly--she was an australopithicine, she died three million years ago, and she may not even have been ancestral to H. spaiens.)

[Hair lady]

Well there are lots of people in Egypt who opposse to the work of musems. My point is we really don´t know how people from other cultures feel about thier dead. We can´t assume how they feel, just as little as they can assume how we feel. It is very easy to get angry and outraged...and I have to say again I would not get angry about a pipe that was made in china, that was then displayed in a muesem.

would I get angry if my grandma was pickled in a jar, sure I would unless she wanted it that way.  MAybe the thing to do would be to get upset about the polices that musems have about treating everything as if it´s only a matter of science and not a matter of humanity.

[Laurel]

Well there are lots of people in Egypt who opposse to the work of musems. My point is we really don´t know how people from other cultures feel about thier dead. We can´t assume how they feel, just as little as they can assume how we feel. It is very easy to get angry and outraged...and I have to say again I would not get angry about a pipe that was made in china, that was then displayed in a muesem.

would I get angry if my grandma was pickled in a jar, sure I would unless she wanted it that way.  MAybe the thing to do would be to get upset about the polices that musems have about treating everything as if it´s only a matter of science and not a matter of humanity.

"We can't assume how they feel" is pretty much what I meant to say. We [whitefolks] should have had then, and should have now, the basic decency to ask how people feel before we do these things. If there's no one to ask, we can only consider how we might feel if this were done to us/our relatives. But we don't.

We don't know what sort of pipe it is yet either (Do we? Did I miss a photo post?). But why not err on the side of not hurting people? And yes, I think museum/anthro/archaeo policies and ethics should be examined, and on a regular basis.