Menominee Indian Tribe News

The Menominee Tribal Historic Preservation Office, on behalf of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, will be bringing home twenty Menominee ancestor’s remains and associated funerary objects for reburial. The repatriation is a part of a Tribal Affiliation claim the tribe submitted to the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Michigan through the provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The Menominee Tribe submitted the “cultural affiliation” claim that was prepared by archaeologist, Dr. David Overstreet and the Tribal Historic Preservation Office.



The twenty Menominee ancestor’s remains and associated funerary objects came from the Backlund Mound Group located on the banks of the Menominee River not far from the proposed Back Forty Mine site. The Backlund mound group was a part of five claims in the Tribal Affiliation claim document. The Menominee tribe proved with the “preponderance of evidence” that the remains and associated funerary objects in the Backlund Mound Group were affiliated to the Menominee Tribe.



A tribal delegation led by Tribal Chairman Chairman Gary Besaw will leave on October 25th to Ann Arbor and will meet with the University of Michigan’s NAGPRA staff and other University officials on October 26 to make the transfer. Other members of the delegation will be tribal consultant Burton Warrington, archaeologist Dr. David Overstreet and Menominee NAGPRA designate and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer David (Nahwahquaw) Grignon.



The delegation will return to the reservation on October 26th and on October 27th we will have our first feast at 5:30 p.m. at the logging museum. The ancestors will be there overnight and in the morning there will be a breakfast for those preparing the graves. At 12:00 noon on Saturday, we will have the final feast and we will take our ancestor’s remains to be buried in the repatriation burial ground on Crow Settlement Road.



