REMAINS RETURNED TO ANGEL MOUNDS

REMAINS RETURNED TO ANGEL MOUNDS

10.

Putting history-- back in it's rightful place.

That's the idea behind the efforts to ensure hundreds of native american souls-- make it back to sacred soil-- right here in the tri-state..

The return of those natives of the ohio river valley-- is the culmination of a years long project.

44news reporter valerie lyons --- has a closer look.

The ancestral remains were removed from the angel mounds historic site during a series of archaeological excavations which began in 1939 -- "the site feels complete again."

The remains of more than 700 native american people -- finally coming home -- first dug up more than 80 years ago -- "artifacts were stored in old army barracks here on the property up until 1970 or 71 and then the glenblack lab of archeology was built at iu and everything was moved there."

Now -- after decades spent in storage at indiana university in bloomington -- they've finally returned to angel mounds in evansville -- "kind of a sense of belonging.

That there's a sense of completion when you have them back here and everything is laid to rest."

It's been an effort a long time in the making -- linderman: "in 1990, nagpra was passed, a law that required institutions hat contain artifacts and human remains that they be returned to original locations if possible."

The angel mounds project began 5 years ago -- through a collaboration between indiana university -- the indiana state museum and historic sites -- and several federally recognized tribal nations in the area -- it was finally completed -- three weeks ago -- "people that were removed are home again on the grounds where they started off at."

The remains were laid to rest around during the spring equinox -- a time -- the tribes helping with this project felt -- represented a spiritual healing of moving forward -- "i've been at angel mounds for 22 years and i never thought i would see it happen in my lifetime, so big smile on my part for seeing it come through."

The more than 700 remains returned here to the site belonged to what staff call the mississippians -- a culture that lived here along this stretch of the ohio -- for around 400 years -- in evansville -- vl44news.