Heavy Rains Reveal 1,000-Year-Old Human Remains In Comanche County Oklahoma

[NaturalHigh]

LAWTON, Oklahoma - Heavy rains and flooding in southwestern Oklahoma led to the discovery of human remains in Comanche County that are believed to be about 1,000 years old.

A local source reports that the remains were found Wednesday in eastern Comanche County near the Grady County line. Deputies contacted archeologists at the University of Oklahoma who determined the remains are that of an approximately 40-year-old man who was probably an American Indian and died about 1,000 years ago.

Sheriff's department administrative assistant Beverley Crosby said an American Indian tribe with ties to the location was contacted and took the remains to an undisclosed location for burial. Crosby said the tribe does not want to be identified.

http://www.newson6.com/story/29200369/heavy-rains-reveal-1000-year-old-human-remains-in-comanche-county

[Kali]

1. no science allowed

[NaturalHigh]

2. Sorry - I don't understand your comment.

[Kali]

3. there is a problem in this country

with the repatriation of archeological specimens. that skeleton could not have been very well studied before it was "disappeared."

the concerns of Native Americans are valid, but all of humanity loses real information when the science is shut out.

[NaturalHigh]

4. Okay I see what you're saying.

Honestly I hadn't thought of that.

[enlightenment]

5. Was this a Native tribe with

1000 year old ties to the location? If it wasn't (and chances are, given the result of the horrendous Indian Removal Act, they are not long-long term residents - even the Comanche for whom the county is named didn't settle there until the late 17th century) then repatriation to the tribe is not within the statute:

The law defines cultural affiliation as:
a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced historically or prehistorically between a present day Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group (Sec. 2(2)). (emphasis added)
http://www.nps.gov/archeology/tools/Laws/nagpra.htm

The Sheriff's office probably didn't want to be bothered with following the law because it usually opens a bucket of worms, so they called the closest tribe and asked them to take care of it.

[NaturalHigh]

6. The tribe wasn't identified, so I don't know.

My guess is that you're right and that it was a local tribe that handled it.