VERONA, NEW YORK—According to a Rome Sentinel report, bone fragments held in the archives at Colgate University's Longyear Museum of Anthropology will be handed over to the Oneida Indian Nation. The ten fragments, identified during a recent inventory, are thought to be the remains of at least six different people. The bones were unearthed in the twentieth century by members of the New York State Archaeological Association at various sites in the ancestral Oneida homelands, and were acquired by the museum between 1959 and 2000. “We are grateful for the return of these remains, and truly appreciate Colgate University for coming forward with this discovery so that our ancestors may receive a proper re-internment at our burial grounds,” said Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation Representative. The Longyear Museum repatriated additional items to the Oneida Nation in 1995 and 2003. To read about Native American sites on an island in the Hudson River, go to "Off the Grid: Rogers Island, New York."
