Towards a common understanding of Indigenous communities and scientists: the Picuris Pueblo archaeological site as a repository of human remains uncovered during archaeological excavations
The Picuris Pueblo tribe, who number around 300 people, has been working with professional archaeologists since the 1960s. The research is focused on human occupations of the region. Human remains uncovered during excavations were returned to the tribe in the 1990s, after the passage of a US repatriation law.
Picuris oral histories and artefacts show a link with the archaeological site, a once-thriving centre famous for its ‘great houses’ that was mysteriously abandoned starting around 900 years ago.
The model of equitable collaborations between Indigenous communities and scientists was published on April 30 in Nature. The project was initiated by Picuris Pueblo leaders, who determined how the research was conducted and presented; researchers wishing to use the data generated in the study must get the tribe’s permission.
“I think that’s a big step in the right direction,” says Katrina Claw, a genomicist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, who is Diné, or Navajo, and was not involved with the study.
Navajo vs. Trump: Steering the ship with ancient human remains to find a connection between Picuris and Chaco Canyon
A 2023 US government restriction on new oil and gas drilling in the area surrounding Chaco Canyon is facing a legal challenge from the Navajo Nation. The administration of Donald Trump is looking at whether or not to repeal the restriction. This month, a federal judge gave two other New Mexico tribes permission to oppose the Navajo lawsuit.
“We steered this ship,” Quanchello said at the briefing, in the hopes that by “using technology in the Western way, that they would now listen”. He added: “We’ve been telling our stories since time immemorial, but this is something on their terms that they can understand.”
Hoping to use the remains as evidence of the connection between Picuris and Chaco Canyon, the tribe’s leadership pursued a collaboration with Eske Willerslev, a palaeogenomicist at the University of Copenhagen. This was the first time a tribe asked him for help with ancient human remains, and his team had previously worked with Native American groups.
“It wasn’t an easy decision,” Picuris governor Wayne Yazza said at the press briefing. Something that we believed would benefit our community was establishing a genetic connection to Chaco Canyon.