AIC's 45th Annual Meeting

The Arizona State Museum (ASM) is a nationally recognized leader in executing legislature from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Since 1986 the museum has repatriated more than 2,000 sets of human remains, 45,000 funerary objects, and 300 objects of cultural patrimony while receiving numerous grants to complete such projects. Prior to tribal repatriation, all objects are documented from various angles during a systematic process implemented at the Arizona State Museum. The final documentation stage is performed by members of the Preservation Division, focusing on understanding the history of the objects from the perspective of a conservation professional. This presentation discusses the established ASM protocol for conservation assessment of NAGPRA materials and how the resulting information is highly beneficial to both the museum and to tribal members. Typical documentation involves evaluating the ways in which objects were previously altered by observing if they were repaired, stabilized, labeled, or sampled. The conservation professional looks for evidence of display or prior destructive analysis while connecting visual assessment information and archived written documentation. Technical and material examination is also performed on certain objects. For example, ultraviolet illumination is used to identify the presence and types of adhesives and consolidants by fluorescence. Magnification is used to clarify identification markings and labels, and handheld x-ray fluorescence is employed to look for the presence of toxic metal-based pesticides on organic objects. Combined with documentation from photography professionals and archaeological curation, this process provides a comprehensive analysis of all NAGPRA objects and can serve as a model for incorporating conservation into the repatriation process.