美国国家公共电台 NPR After 87 Years At The Smithsonian, Bones Of Alaska Natives Returned And Reburied

 

LAKSHMI SINGH, HOST:

A village in Alaska is one of the latest to rebury human remains¹ that have been studied and stored at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Hundreds of thousands of Native American graves were excavated² in the 19th and 20th centuries in the name of research. This year, the National Museum of Natural History has given the remains of 31 people back to five tribes. From member station KDLG in Bristol Bay, Alaska, Avery Lill has that story.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Yupik).

AVERY LILL, BYLINE³: On a drizzly⁴ fall day, about half the village of Igiugig crowded into the Russian Orthodox church in the center of town. The nave⁵ was hazy⁶ with incense⁷ as the priest talked about healing, rest and the sacredness of graves. In the center of the room sat three handmade coffins⁸ carrying the bones of 24 people from the now-abandoned settlement of Kaskanak. Annie Wilson of Igiugig attended the ceremony. She says, the original excavation⁹ of these remains was objectionable in Yupik culture.

ANNIE WILSON: We were always taught you don't dig up old bones of anything or anybody. That's their resting place until the good Lord comes someday.

LILL: The remains were unearted 87 years ago by Ales Hrdlicka. He was the head of the Anthropology¹⁰ Department in what is now the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The idea was to study how people originally came to North America and from where. In 1989 and 1990, Congress passed laws that require museums to make remains and funerary objects available to federally recognized tribes. The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History held the remains of about 19,000 Native American people. Repatriation¹¹ is a slow process. After more than eight decades in the museum's collection, Igiugig's ancestors finally returned home.

ALICE ZACKAR: (Spoken in Yupik).

LILL: Eighty-five-year-old Alice Zackar is an Igiugig elder. She speaks her native language, Yupik. Annie Wilson asked her what she thought about the repatriation and interpreted.

WILSON: I guess with everything that's been going on, she's kind of a little bit emotional at the moment. But she feels really honored to have all that taken back down to there.

LILL: Historians estimate that the researcher Hrdlicka unearthed¹² thousands of peoples' remains from across the United States. It took about two years after the village of Igiugig requested remains for the repatriation to be approved. First, the Smithsonian went through the process to determine that this set of remains was from people culturally affiliated¹³ with the Igyararmiut, the people of Igiugig. The museum leaned heavily on the work of AlexAnna Salmon¹⁴. Her family has lived in Igiugig for generations, and she researched the area's history for her master's thesis.

ALEXANNA SALMON: This was a collaborative effort between the Smithsonian and our village, but it was really us telling them that these are ours. This is who we are. And it's not anthropology coming from the other direction telling you who you are and where you came from.

LILL: After the funeral service, the coffins were loaded into a skiff. This time, the remains were accompanied by a different member of the Smithsonian, the director of the National Museum of Natural History, Kirk Johnson. The Smithsonian is known as an institution that collects, but giving history back has become part of its duty in recent decades. He says that it's been important to work with native communities on these repatriations.

KIRK JOHNSON: So when their grandparents or their more recent relatives are actually in museums as collections items, which just doesn't make much sense from a human point of view, there is something that was very unfair that was done here.

LILL: At a site near Kaskanak, a hole was already dug on the hillside overlooking the Kvichak River.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Yupik).

LILL: The priest prayed as the coffins were lowered. Johnson, alongside the Igyararmiut, helped to fill the grave. And soon, only three white crosses in a fresh pile of soil marked it.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMS)

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Yupik).

LILL: The bones finally laid to rest, the village performed a traditional Yupik dance. Facing east with dance bands held high, they blessed their ancestors and reclaimed¹⁵ two dozen of their people. For NPR News, I'm Avery Lill.

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 drizzly   

a.毛毛雨的(a drizzly day)

参考例句：

• This section of the country is drizzly in the winter. 该国的这一地区在冬天经常细雨蒙蒙。
• That region is drizzly in winter. 那个地区冬天常下小雨。

5 nave   

n.教堂的中部；本堂

参考例句：

• People gathered in the nave of the house.人们聚拢在房子的中间。
• The family on the other side of the nave had a certain look about them,too.在中殿另一边的那一家人，也有着自己特有的相貌。

6 hazy   

adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的

参考例句：

• We couldn't see far because it was so hazy.雾气蒙蒙妨碍了我们的视线。
• I have a hazy memory of those early years.对那些早先的岁月我有着朦胧的记忆。

7 incense   

v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气

参考例句：

• This proposal will incense conservation campaigners.这项提议会激怒环保人士。
• In summer,they usually burn some coil incense to keep away the mosquitoes.夏天他们通常点香驱蚊。

8 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

9 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

10 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

11 repatriation   

n.遣送回国，归国

参考例句：

• The Volrep programme is the preferred means of repatriation. 政府认为自愿遣返计划的遣返方法较为可取。 来自互联网
• Arrange the cargo claiming and maritime affairs,crews repatriation,medical treatment,traveling so on. （六）洽办货物理赔，船舶海事处理，办理船员遣返，就医，旅游等。 来自互联网

12 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

13 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

14 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

15 reclaimed   

adj.再生的；翻造的；收复的；回收的v.开拓( reclaim的过去式和过去分词 )；要求收回；从废料中回收（有用的材料）；挽救

参考例句：

• Many sufferers have been reclaimed from a dependence on alcohol. 许多嗜酒成癖的受害者已经被挽救过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They reclaimed him from his evil ways. 他们把他从邪恶中挽救出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》