The Kansas State Historical Society plans to return human remains excavated from Native American burial sites in Kansas to two tribes.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports  the remains of two people dug up in Pottawatomie County were donated to the historical society in 1881 by a private collector. In the years since, the historical society has received Native American remains from other counties.
Robert Hoard, a state archaeologist, wrote in April that the remains of 17 individuals and 148 burial objects belong to the Kaw Nation. He also determined remains of at least one person, along with glass beads and pottery found in 1916 or 1917 in Atchison County, belonged to the Kickapoo tribe.
Unless other tribes object during a public comment period, the remains will become the tribes’ property.