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Tribe seeks third opinion on human remains

By Meghan Erkkinen

Tacoma Weekly
merkkinen@tacomaweekly.com
Published on: August 28, 2008

Puyallup Tribal attorney Cynthia Lyman and the tribe’s Historic Preservation Office are seeking a third opinion on whether a human skull found at a local antique store is that of a Native American.

Lyman saw the skull, which was hinged together and advertised as a jewelry box, at Katy’s Antique Mall near Tacoma Dome and reported it to authorities. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s office confiscated the skull and sent it to the county’s forensic anthropologist, who reported that based on the physical features of the skull, the specimen was possibly of Native American descent.

The skull was then sent to Guy Tasa, a physical anthropologist for the Washington State Department of Historic Preservation. He came to a different conclusion.

“The skull is a very classic, typical example of a medical specimen, a skull that has been obtained – probably from India – and used for teaching purposes for a very long time,” Tasa said. “In my mind there is no way this can be a Native American skull.”

The owner of Katy’s Antiques said she purchased the skull about 15 years ago from an individual who said it was from a female Native American, and that the skull had been initially recovered on Day Island and made into a medical specimen at the University of Puget Sound (UPS).

Because of this information, and because the reports of the Pierce County anthropologist and Tasa were so completely different, the tribe is seeking a third opinion.

“It is peculiar that the verbal statements indicate the skull was found on Day Island and Native American are so radically different from the state’s analysis,” Lyman said. “Day Island is an area where the tribe has repatriated human remains from and is definitely within the tribe’s area of cultural affiliation.”

Tasa said he is also investigating where the skull came from through UPS and through the person who sold the remains to Katy’s Antiques.

Right now, Lyman said she is focusing on getting a third opinion and, if the remains turn out to be tribal, to bring them back to the tribe.

“The tribe takes it very seriously when human remains of the ancestors of the Puyallup Tribe are not treated in the most respectful manner possible,” she said.

Even if the skull is found not to be Native American, Tasa said he plans to talk with the owner of Katy’s Antiques to try and find a more appropriate setting for the remains.

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