>> CATHY: THE PRAIRIE ISLAND INDIAN COMMUNITY WELCOMED HOME FIVE OF ITS DAKOTA ANCESTORS RECENTLY.

DOZENS ATTENDED A REPATRIATION AND REBURIAL CEREMONY NEAR WELCH, MINNESOTA.

THE ANCESTORS HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM THEIR ORIGINAL BURIAL MOUND ON LAKE MINNETONKA MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO.

REPORTER KAOMI LEE EXPLAINS.

>> Kaomi: ON A RECENT DAY DESPITE THE BITTER WIND AND COLD, A HOMECOMING OCCURRED, SOME 120 YEARS AFTER BEING REMOVED FROM THEIR GRAVES IN MINNESOTA, FIVE DAKOTA AN ANCESTORS FINALLY CAME TO REST.

>> THERE'S A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT MAKE THIS REPATRIATION SIGNIFICANT.

>> RANKE JACKSON IS THE COMPLIANCE OFFICER FOR THE PRAIRIE ISLAND INDIAN COMMUNITY TRIBAL HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE.

HE SAYS THE FOUR DAKOTA BANDS OF MINNESOTA FILED UNDER THE NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND REPATRIATION ACT.

>> WE'VE HAD IT AROUND FOR 30-SOME YEARS OR SO.

AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE FOUR FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED TRIBES HERE IN MINNESOTA FILED A JOINT PROCLAMATION TOGETHER.

AND SO I THINK THAT IN ITSELF IS A HISTORIC UNDERTAKING.

>> IT CALLS FOR INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE FEDERALLY FUNDED OR OBJECTS THAT WERE AGUIRREED ON FEDERAL LAND SUCH AS INDIGENOUS ANCESTRAL REMAINS OR ASSOCIATED GRAVE GOODS, TO BE REPATRIATED OR RETURNED TO THE INDIGENOUS NATIONS THAT THEY BELONG TO.

THERE'S SEVERAL ISSUES WITH WHY THE LAW STILL OR STILL REPATRIATION PROJECTS STILL IN PROGRESS.

>> Kaomi: GOVER IS IS A MEMBER OF THE PAWNEE NIGHTS AND STUDIES INDIGENOUS ARCHAEOLOGY.

HE SAYS SOME INSTITUTIONS ARE UNWILLING TO REPATRIATE NATIVE ANCESTORS.

THERE'S ALSO A LACK OF FUNDING, WITH THE BURDEN OFTEN PLACED ON THE TRIBES THEMSELVES.

>> SOMETIMES WITH THE OBJECTS, THAT MAY DATE BACK THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO, IDENTIFYING WHICH NATIONS THEY BELONG TO BECOMES DIFFICULT AND THEY USE THAT AS AN EXCUSE.

>> Kaomi: THE CONNECTICUT STATE ARCHAEOLOGY OFFICE COOPERATED UNDER THE FEDERAL LAW, BUT NAGPRA DOESN'T ADDRESS NATIVE ANCESTORS IN PRIVATE HANDS.

THAT XPLAINS WHY IT TOOK A CENTURY TO RETURN THEM.

>> IT'S AN UNUSUAL *.

THERE AREN'T MANY INSTANCES WHERE HUMAN REMAINS THAT WERE EXCAVATED IN THE 19TH CENTURY HAVE SURVIVED THIS LONG.

>> Kaomi: BUT IN 1875, AN ATTORNEY FROM CONNECTICUT NAMED CARRINGTON PHELPS HAD AGUIRREED AN ENTIRE ISLAND ON LAKE MINNETONKA.

IT WAS RAE NAMED PHELPS ISLAND AND HE BUILT A LODGE.

ALSO ON THE ISLAND WERE TWO NATIVE AMERICAN BURIAL MOUND GROUPS.

>> LAKE MINNETONKA HAS A HEAVY CONCENTRATION OF MOUNDS.

SOME ARCHAEOLOGISTS CLAIM THAT IT'S ONE OF THE MOST DENSE AREAS OF MOUND BUILDING IN THIS SOUTHERN MINNESOTA.

THERE ARE ALMOST 500 MOUNDS AT LAKE MINNETONKA THAT WERE COUNTED AND MAPPED.

IN THE 1880s.

>> Kaomi: THE LAKE WAS CONSIDERED A ACRED PLACE.

HISTORIAN PAUL MARAVELLIS SAYS ANCESTORS TO DAKOTA AND OTHER TRIBES USED IT AS A RESOURCE AS WELL AS A PLACE OF FINAL REST.

>> MOST OF THESE WERE EXCAVATED AT LAKE MINNETONKA BY 1890.

WE HAVE DATA ON THAT.

THERE WASN'T A SENSE THAT THEY SHOULD BE PRESERVINGED AS WE THINK ODAY.

>> Kaomi: AND ALSO WERE THEY NOVEL SOUVENIRS, PEOPLE GRAVE DIGGING?

>> ABSOLUTELY.

>> Kaomi: IN 1902 PHELPS LOST OWNERSHIP OF THE ISLAND AND WENT WACK TO CONNECTICUT.

HE ALSO TOOK NATIVE ANCESTORS WHO WERE BURIED ON THE ISLAND.

A DECADE AGO THEY WERE DISCOVERED AFTER THE FAMILY SOLD THE HOUSE.

OUR HISTORIANS SAID THE FAMILY MADE NO EFFORT TO HIDE THE FACT THAT HE BROUGHT THE BONES BACK AFTER HE DESTROYED THE MOUND.

OVER THE YEARS, THEY SHOWED THEM TO PEOPLE AS IF THEY WERE SOUVENIRS.

A DECADE LATER, THEY FINALLY MADE THEIR WAY HOME.

I'M STANDING HERE ON 160 ACRES IN WELCH, MINNESOTA, THAT WAS RECENTLY AGUIRREED BY THE PRAIRIE ISLAND INDIAN COMMUNITY.

IT'S HERE WHERE HISS TOMORROWACHE REPATRIATION OF ANCESTORS WILL TAKE PLACE.

THERE WILL BE A FOUR-DAY CEREMONY STARTING WITH LIGHT EAGHTS.

SACRED FIRE.

>> I DON'T THINK THE AVERAGE MINNESOTAN UNDERSTANDS THE WEIGHT AND RESPONSIBILITY THAT THE MINNESOTA TRIBES CARRY WHEN IT OMES TO RECONCILING OUR ANCESTORS THAT CAME FROM BURIAL MOUNDS AND OTHER BURIAL LOCATIONS, INCLUDING ASSOCIATED FUNERARY OBJECTS.

>> Kaomi: A PRO PUBLIC YA INVESTIGATION THIS YEAR FOUND THAT MANY OF THE NATIONS'S PRESTIGIOUS MUSEUMS HAD STILL NOT REPATRIATED LARGE NUMBERS OF NATIVE AMERICAN AN SECORS.

IN NOTE, THE UNIVERSITY'S WISE MAN MUSEUM HAS SIMILARLY COME UNDER FIRE.

CURRENTLY HELD AT THE MINNESOTA INDIAN AFFAIRS COUNCIL AND HAMLINE UNIVERSITY.

OFFICIALS FROM BOTH OF THEM SAY EFFORTS TO REPATRIATE ARE UNDER WAY.

>> AT THE END OF THE DAY, THESE INDIGENOUS NATIONS ARE SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENTS THAT HAVE FULL LEGAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY TO DICTATE THE -- THEIR CITIZENS, THIRD DEGREE ANCESTORS AND THEIR CULTURAL HERITAGE.

ADDITIONALLY, THE ARCHAEOLOGY IS GOING THROUGH THE CURATION CRISIS.

>> Kaomi: HE SAYS MUSEUMS HAVE JUST TOO MUCH INVENTORY.

SOME HAVE YET TO FULLY RECORD IT ALL.

MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY ANTHROPOLOGIST RON SHERMER WITNESSED THE RECENT REPATRIATION OF DAKOTA AN SECORS.

HE SAYS THEIR FINAL JOURNEY HOME WAS HEALING FOR ALL.

>> BEING ABLE TO SEE THAT AND BE PART OF THAT AND SEEING AGAIN THOSE OLD WAY EALGTZ COMING BACK IN PRACTICE, WHEN THEY WERE FORBIDDEN, THEY ARE SQUASHED, THEY WERE SUPPRESSED FOR SO LONG, IT MAKES YOUR HEART FEEL GOOD.

AND AT THE SAME TIME, IT MAKES YOUR HEART FEEL SAD KNOWING THAT