San Luis Obispo -- for the first time a Native American tribe is bringing ancestral remains back to the US for reburial in their native soil.
The remains, dating back hundreds of years, are now back in the salinan tribe's homeland here on central coast.
The tribe worked with the University of Birmingham in the UK to bring the remains of seven tribe members back home. It's believed the remains were first stolen, sold to a private collection, and then donated to the university sometime in the 1800's.
More than 700 Salinan tribe members still live where their ancestors did. Their territory covers parts of San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and San Benito Counties
In the 1700s many lived around Mission San Miguel and traded with the Chumash
The skulls of the seven Native Americans from this area ended up stored away at the university until they were recently discovered. Bio-medical Ethicist Dr. June Jones says, "They were part of an ancient anatomy collection, each one was in its own box fully labeled, we were able to see straight away that we had seven complete skulls from San Luis Obispo area."
Dr. Jones helped the tribe start the process a year ago and the university paid to have the remains returned.
Out of respect for the dead the university did not do any testing after the skulls were found in storage. Dr. Jones says that why they are unsure if the remains are Chumash or Salinan.
She says, "We could have carbon dating we could have DNA and we chose not because that could be very disrespectful to the ancestor and tribal members now."
The Salinan tribe says this is the first time Native American remains from a museum or university collection are being returned to their homeland.
The seven skulls will be re-interred somewhere in their territory in a private ceremony at a secret location to protect them from vandals and treasure hunters.
