Native American Tribes Clash With UC Over Bones of Their Ancestors

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Michael Walters, a UC Davis osteologist, shows how he sorts through animal bones from archaeological digs to find any human bones that have been misclassified. Photo by Felicia Mello for CALmatters

By Felicia Mello, CALmatters 

As tribal archaeologist for the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, Myra Masiel uses her UC Berkeley anthropology training daily. Her mission: Track down skeletons of Native Californians extracted from gravesites over the last two centuries and shipped off to museums around the world, and return them to the tribe’s ancestral land near Temecula so they can be reburied with dignity.

But lately that quest has put Masiel at odds with her alma mater.

Read the complete story at CALmatters.

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