Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 5, 1 May 1997 — NAGPRA: kiʻi should come home [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

NAGPRA: kiʻi should come home

Adisputed Hawaiian artifact, the ki'i la'au, should be retunied to Hawaiians, a national review committee has reiterated. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee first eame to this eonelusion in November 1996 after the Roger Williams Park Museum in Providpnre. Rhodp Island nro-

posed to sell the pieee. The Mayor of Providence requested a second review of the matter, and the eommittee upheld its recommen-

dation on March 27, 1997. Claim to the artifact was made under the NAGPRA by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei on the grounds that it is a sacred object subject to retum.

Hawaiian groups are awaiting the return of this Ki'i lō'au sitting in Sotheby's Auction House in New York.