Homecoming for Long-Lost Native Hawaiian Artifacts

Edward Halealoha Ayau has been working for decades on the repatriation of Native Hawaiian artifacts. Last year, he and his team identified items in the University of California at Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology that should be returned, and by November, 335 items had been packed up and sent back to the Islands. This is the largest-ever repatriation of cultural objects to Hawai‘i, and it includes sacred lei hulu (feather lei), kūpe‘e (anklets/bracelets) and lei niho palaoa (whale tooth pendants strung on human hair).

Edward Halealoha Ayau. Photo: Aaron K. Yoshino

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA, requires institutions that receive federal funding—such as universities and museums—to return human remains, sacred and funerary objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to lineal descendants and Indigenous groups. Despite the law, thousands of objects are still far from home.

That doesn’t sit right with U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, who sent open letters to the institutions with the biggest collections of remains—including the University of California at Berkeley—last spring, urging them to comply with NAGPRA. Berkeley is actively working toward reducing its collections.

SEE ALSO: A Must-Visit for History Buffs: The Hawaiian Historical Society