The Smithsonian is returning human remains to Shishmaref that were excavated over 80 years ago.
The remains of an estimated 48 people will come back this summer, along with 6 funerary objects associated with burials. An additional 72 objects will go to St. Lawrence Island.
The Shishmaref items and bodies came to the Smithsonian through a fur trader who dug up burial mounds. St. Lawrence island’s burial objects date to the great famine of 1878-1880.
