Quapaw tribe of Oklahoma gets remains from university museum

Friday, April 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- The Quapaws, a tribe that lived in Arkansas when European settlers first moved into the region, have been given human and cultural remains of their ancestors.

The University of Arkansas Museum signed over the remains to the Quapaw tribe of Oklahoma in a campus ceremony Thursday.

"Because of the repatriation, we're getting our ancestors back where they belong," said Jess McKibben, a Quapaw tribal leader.

The repatriation was the first for the tribe and took place under guidelines of the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act.

The remains are from the Parkin archaeological site in Cross County and the Kinkead-Mainard site in Pulaski County.

The repatriated cultural items will remain at the museum until the tribe completes arrangements to have them reburied.

The remains will be reinterred through the Arkansas Keepsafe program, which was established to repatriate remains to Indians indigenous to Arkansas. The program was begun by Arkansas State Parks.

The program has cemeteries at Toltec Mounds State Park and Parkin Archaeological State Park.

"The Keepsafe program has been a model and we very much appreciate the efforts and support that Arkansas State Parks has shown by establishing the Keepsafe cemeteries," said Carrie V.Wilson, the Quapaw representative under the repatriation program.

"The tribe is not against archeology rather we want responsible archeology," Wilson said.

The museum holds other collections that are to be repatriated, according to the university. UA officials said the tribe will continue working with the university museum and other museums that hold Quapaw artifacts.

The tribe is historically known as the Arkansa, the tribe from which the state of Arkansas drew its name. Quapaw, Caddo and Osage Indians once lived in the region.