Searching for sources is not as fun as finding them in person. Call me an old man, but there is something about flipping through a treaty, touching a quilt, or going to the place where an event occurred that just can’t be shown through a website or image. Digitally, things are not special. There is so much to look at through the internet, that a treaty bears little more significance than a flash game. But in person, holding or viewing something once held or viewed by people, once held great importance, once was made through effort and passion– it cannot be translated to the internet. The difficulty I encountered was finding something worth being passionate about. Not having something near me, close to me, or knowing the sounds, smells, or touch that can be associated with the flipping of a page or the touching of a cloth– it makes it hard to care. Anyone can find these things on the internet. I have not uncovered any mysteries.
Ascribing morality to historical preservation is a difficult task. The difference between excavation and grave-robbing is thin. The difference between respect and exploitation is too, a thin one. Cultural relativism is difficult and often misunderstood to be respect of all aspects of culture, rather than an unbiased look into other cultures in the same vein as our own. It is even more complicated when a group seeking preservation has been oppressed. Add on a lackluster amount of things able to be preserved– it is a recipe for disaster. The reason we have very little from the stone age is because it was not the stone age. It was the wood age. And wood rots. Likewise, we have many things from Egypt, but very little to be found from Australia. Egypt built pyramids, Australia had no need to. Europe and Asia dominated the world and each other. Their history has been preserved for centuries. Southern and Central Africa was dominated by Europe. Their history was intentionally destroyed by conquerors and tyrants. Therefore, there is a higher understanding of the histories of Europe, North Africa, The Middle East, and East Asia, then there is for those who they conquered, Australia, New Zealand, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas.
When one seeks preservation of Indigenous artifacts they need not consider, however, the downsides of other regions. Preserving the history of the Middle East is a hard task, considering how often that region is plunged into war. Preserving the history of Australia is hard, considering the climate and ecosystem. The Americas call for preservation. Indigenous people do not face things like the Syrian Civil War or scary giant Aussie spiders.
The reason that Indigenous peoples of the Americas (specifically in the United States) do not have their landmarks preserved is a concerted effort by colonizers to prevent the flourishing of their culture. This is changing. More people are interested, more people are progressive, and more people are willing to put time and effort into preservation. Questions then arise of how to do so. One of the most important of which is: Are we to have Indigenous representation be a core value? I answer this with a simple– there are plenty of historians and we can definitely find qualified Indigenous historians, and having non-Indigenous people is fine as long as we consult different perspectives.
However, I believe that artifacts are not deserved by anyone. Being descended from Greeks does not make you more deserving of seeing Athens. Being descended from Chinese does not make you more deserving of visiting the wall. We are humans of the Earth, our ancestry does not give us any privileges or opportunities simply because we are from another region. I believe artifacts should be widespread. Greek artifacts should be in Chinese museums and Chinese artifacts should be in Greek Museums. The issue is when this is not equal, as a long history of colonialism often shows.
Significant artifacts belong wherever they will be most appreciated and preserved. No artifacts belong in a war zone. No artifacts belong in a private collection. Indigenous historians have proven to be capable and willing to preserve their artifacts, and so the National Museum repatriation to the Siksika Nation was a logical, responsible, and respectable action. While the National Museum has a right to hold some Siksika artifacts, they have no right to hold them all. As should it be that the Siksika Nation has the right to create a museum of artifacts from the colonizing forces.