How We Know Property Quiz

No, this museum closed in the 1960s.

Any object made using cultural knowledge may be considered intangible property of the tribe and subject to tribal control. Similarly, in U. S. law, intellectual property cannot be used without permission; for example, it may be illegal to download music or films without paying for them.

The impact of diseases on population size and health, the effect of diet on health, the relationship of social inequality to health—all these questions are some of the information that can be obtained from these studies. But very few of the skeletal remains in storage in museums and elsewhere were actually studied.

Tribes do not always oppose DNA testing but point out that cultural affiliation is not the same as biological relationship. Objections to scientific study may be part of a general resistance to domination by majority Americans rather than hostility to science per se. One of the Native members of the NAGPRA Review Board asked how Americans would react if Vietnamese scientists refused to return the bodies of U. S. soldiers until they had been scientifically studied. Would Americans favor repatriation?