AUBURN, N.Y. (AP) — A museum in New York’s Finger Lakes has returned a number of artifacts to the Onondaga Indian Nation.
The Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn says the 21 items have “spiritual significance” to the nation.
They are nineteen masks and two wampum articles.
Because it isn’t federally funded, the museum wasn’t required by law to turn over the objects, but it said displaying them would be unethical.
It will display a replica of a wampum belt crafted by the Onondaga and given to the museum as a goodwill gesture.
The museum says it’s planning a permanent exhibit on the Haudenosanee (hoe-dee-no-SHO’-nee) people, the Iroquois who lived in the Finger Lakes region.
