Museum to return artifact to Arizona tribes

Saturday’s Bangor Daily News features a story about a centuries-old ceramic pot that’s part of UMaine’s Hudson Museum collection.  The pot, which contains the cremated remains of a member of the Hohokam people, has been in Maine since it was given as a gift to William C. Wells of Orono in 1937.  He donated it to UMaine approximately 50 years ago.  Representatives of the Gila River Indian Community, which represents Arizona Indian tribes, recently became aware of the artifact and contacted Hudson Museum officials to make arrangements for its return.  Prof. Dan Sandweiss of the UMaine anthropology faculty told the BDN that the university and museum were willing to return the pot because it’s “legally and morally the right thing to do.”