IU completes its first international repatriation of human remains to Easter Island
In the quarry at Rano Raraku, ancient matamu'a carved the stone monuments known as moai, which represent ancestors who have passed away. The Rapa Nui people have increased efforts in recent years to bring their ancestors home through international repatriation. (Photo by Josefina Nahoe)
Indiana University has completed its first international repatriation of human remains to the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island.
A news release said IU's Jayne-Leigh Thomas visited the island in December as an invited guest of Rapa Nui representatives and is working with them on several research projects focused on the ethics of repatriation.
'To know that I played a small part in returning these Rapa Nui ancestors to Easter Island is overwhelming and so personally rewarding,' said Thomas, executive director of IU's Office of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. 'To be so warmly welcomed onto the island, to build relationships with Rapa Nui representatives, and to have the opportunity to see the rich cultural heritage and visit archaeological sites was simply incredible.'
Thomas said the remains were donated to IU in the 1990s by David M. Lodge, a descendent of U.S. Navy Rear Adm. George Henry Cooke. As a surgeon and medical officer, Cooke was assigned to Ulysses S. Grant's detail during the ex-president's circumnavigation of the world from 1877 to 1879. He later served aboard the USS Mohican, which visited Easter Island in 1886 to collect large stone sculptures, known as moai, for the Smithsonian Institute.
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Cooke's Smithsonian report repeatedly mentions Pakomio Mā'ori, a Rapa Nui survivor of the Peruvian slave raids of 1862. That man's great-great-grandson, Francisco Nahoe, a Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, worked with Thomas on this repatriation.
The release said the Rapa Nui people have been very active in repatriation in recent years, working with individuals and institutions in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Canada, the United States and Chile to locate their ancestors' remains and bring them home to Easter Island. Nahoe is the North American delegate of Te Mau Hatu, the Easter Island council of elders, for recovery and repatriation.
Nahoe attended IU's Intensive NAGPRA Summer Training and Education Program in 2024 with his cousin, Rapa Nui archaeologist Susana Nahoe. The INSTEP program, which Thomas directs, offers best practices regarding the repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural objects under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Because few programs exist to support repatriation efforts internationally, and NAGPRA offers a roadmap for repatriation that can be replicated worldwide, there has been increased interest from people around the world to attend this training program.
'IU is fully committed to our NAGPRA work and has several large repatriation projects underway with numerous federally recognized tribal nations, but we also support the return of all Indigenous human remains, not just those from the United States,' IU Vice President for Research Russell J. Mumper said. 'We are focused on creating strong partnerships and developing mutually beneficial research projects that highlight repatriation, ethical museum practices and archaeological scholarship with Indigenous communities in the U.S. and abroad.'
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