Group wants judge to rethink order to return artifacts

A group is asking a federal judge to reconsider ordering them to retrieve Native Hawaiian artifacts from a Big Island Cave. Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawaii Nei has refused an order from U-S District Judge David Ezra that instructs the group to give the 83 items back to Bishop Museum. The order was reaffirmed this week by the Ninth U-S Circuit Court of Appeals. Hui Malama argues the cave could collapse if someone tried to enter it. It also says a letter from the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation review committee stated the items should remained buried. Hui Malama says it will present a full picture of the case to Ezra and ask that he rethink his order filed in September. Ezra has scheduled a status hearing on the case for December 20th. The group says it buried the items -- including a human-hair wig, containers with human teeth and carved wooden statuettes of family gods -- in the cave after borrowing them from the museum in 2000. (...)

Full article: Kpua.net