Repatriation in Action

In November 2013, the Indianapolis Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Art Crime Team launched a complex, multi-year criminal investigation that set the stage for what has become the FBI’s largest single recovery of Native American human remains, cultural objects, and foreign artifacts to date. Since 2014, IUPUI students in the Anthropology Department and Museum Studies program have been assisting the Art Crime Program in multiple ways. From maintaining physical and intellectual control over the collections to conducting provenance research to determine the cultural origins of the seized items, IUPUI students have spent the last eight years doing hands-on work to return the items to their descendant communities.