Little Shell Tribe hosts reburial ceremony for repatriated child remains

On Wednesday afternoon, the Little Shell Tribe hosted a traditional reburial ceremony at Buffalo Jump State Park for the remains of a Little Shell child recently returned to the Tribe from the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.

It is believed the family of the female infant had originally laid her to rest in a tree, and her remains were then stolen, eventually making their way to the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History where she was on display for years.

After working with the museum for four years to culturally identify her, the Little Shell Tribe held a respectful, traditional burial honoring her, bringing her gifts to take with her on her four day journey back to the spirit world.

Duane Reid is a Historic Preservation Officer as well as coordinator for the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act for the Little Shell Tribe.

Since the spring of 2020, Reid has been working to coordinate with local leaders and the Chicago Field Museum to examine the remains and figure out what geographic location the child came from.

Reid says, “One thing I knew for sure was this was someone's baby. And someone's baby doesn't deserve to be in the museum.”

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The Field Museum wrote and submitted a repatriation grant to help cover the costs of safely returning the remains to Montana.

The decision to bury her at Buffalo State Park was because the land holds cultural significance to many tribes. The area is protected as a national landmark, and her remains will not be disturbed.

Mike LaFountain, Spiritual Advisor for the Little Shell Tribe, explained, “She was pulled back into this physical life here. So she lives between the spiritual life and the physical life here. We offer those gifts up to honor her, her and our journey back home, and honor our ancestors that are waiting for her, to show that there was a commitment and sacrifice put into allowing her to go back home. She gets to go home and be where she was meant to be this whole time.”

The Little Shell Tribal Council is deeply committed to finding repatriating ancestral remains.

LaFountain says, “The museums and private individuals that are holding these things need to return them back where they belong, because they do not belong to them, they belong to the people.” They will continue to work on bringing their ancestors home and making sure they are honored and respected.