By evaluating the first museum in history, it is evident that they included antiquities, and in recent years, archaeology has become a major principal museum discipline. Today there are more than 25000 museums in the world where multiple archaeological collections are kept. Generally, Museums are varying in size depending on the type of archeology that they deal with. For instance, there are large scholarly museums such as the British Museum, while small local museums deal with archeology and history. Many of the large museums are used as research institutions. Furthermore, various administrative structures have been put in place to protect the museums. One good example of these structures is the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The act was enacted to help museums and federal bodies to give back Native American cultural tools and items to their lineal descendants. The provision requires all the items that are excavated and unintentionally discovered on tribal lands and federal land concerning the Native American culture to be returned.
On the other hand, artifacts that highlight museums’ topic in the light of (NAGPRA) can be found mainly in the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) collections. The collections have some of the most extensive items that include Native American arts and artifacts (Shannon, 2019). The arts and artifacts range from the ancient works of Paleo-India to the modern fine arts. The NMAI collections today focuses mainly on the modern and contemporary arts that are donated. The collections put together are important since they give significance and relevance to all the diverse constituents of the Native American community. One of the major collections that is a remarkable mark of a person’s passion is collections by George Heye (Wolf, 2020). His historical collections have complexity and fullness since they scope a range of traditional items made by the Native Americans for their own use, those that were created for selling to the non-Indians, and those altered due to influence from outsiders. A good example of artifacts collected by George Heye is the Valdivia pots. The artifacts are a representation of one of the oldest cultures that existed among the Americans. The people of Valdivia lived in houses that were built in an oval shape and on a central plaza. Valdivian pottery, as represented by the artifacts, was, in the beginning, rough and practical, but it later evolved to and became splendid and subtle. The pots are generally colored with red and grey colors, and the dark red pottery is a representation of a Valdivia period representation.
Moreover, the film is a representation of some of the challenges that governments undergo when protecting museums. People who do not understand the importance and significance of arts and artifacts or they would like to sell them for personal gains are a threat to museums. The government and the NAGPRA have the responsivity to work together to protect artifacts and arts in museums. I would like my fellow students to answer the following questions:
- Do you think that NAGPRA is effective in protecting museums?
- What amendments would you propose for the NAGPRA?