ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A settlement agreement filed in U.S. District Court in New Mexico calls for a Paris auction house to return a ceremonial shield to a Native American tribe that considers it sacred.

Under the agreement filed Friday, the EVE auction house is to release the artifact to the U.S. Embassy in Paris for transport to Albuquerque by a federal agent.

The auction house previously listed the shield among many Native American items for sale.

Those signing the agreement included Acoma Pueblo Gov. Brian Vallo and Jerold Collings, a resident of rural western New Mexico who has said he inherited the shield from his mother.

The tribe has pressed for repatriations of ceremonial items from galleries, auction houses and private collections, and Vallo called the shield’s return homecoming “critical and highly sensitive.”

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