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Effigy Mounds bones

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Former Effigy Mounds 

superintendent pleads not guilty 

to taking Native American remains

Consultation process 

to determine where 

remains will end up

By Ted Pennekamp

 

A retired National Park Service official at Effigy Mounds National Monument pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Dec. 16 in federal court to a charge of stealing Native American remains from the Effigy Mounds museum in 1990. 

A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for Thomas Munson, 76, of Prairie du Chien, in the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Jan. 4, 2016 at 1:30 p.m.

Munson was charged on Dec. 8 with embezzlement of government property after a lengthy investigation. He allegedly kept the remains in his garage for 22 years.

The charge is a misdemeanor which has a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine if Munson is convicted.

Assistant United States Attorney Tim Duax of the United States Attorney’s Office in Cedar Rapids said he could not comment on a possible plea agreement.

The investigation had been ongoing since 2011 after Munson returned a box of bones to a museum at Effigy Mounds in northeast Iowa. Fragments of skeletons, including teeth, jaws, and leg bones believed to be 500 to 2,000 years old were in the box. The remains were discovered at Effigy Mounds in the 1950s. More boxes of remains were later recovered from Munson’s home. Prosecutors say the remains were missing from 1990 to 2012. 

Munson has said that he took the remains and stored them in his garage. Munson retired in 1994 after 23 years as superintendent at Effigy Mounds.

All of the remains have now been recovered, except for a tiny amount, said John Doershuk, Iowa’s State Archaeologist.

“It was critical to get this stuff back,” said Doershuk, who noted that the Office of the State Archaeologist was involved with the collection when it was assessed and inventoried in the 1980s. 

Upon the collection’s return, the remains have been assessed again by the Office of the State Archaeologist, which is headquartered at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. 

“They have suffered,” said Doershuk about the remains. “These things are in rough shape.” Doershuk noted that the remains had been inappropriately stored and have deteriorated as a result. “Even the boxes were bad,” he said. The museum, said Doershuk, had climate controlled areas, appropriate storage drawers, and labels. It was designed for long-term preservation.

In addition to the deterioration of the remains, Doershuk said the loss of context and information is important as well. “They were just swept into boxes and put in a garage,” he said, in noting that labels and information about where the various remains were found and how old they are has been lost in many instances.

Doershuk said that when the Munson case is over, a consultation process will begin involving several federal and state agencies and the 12 Native American tribes affiliated with Effigy Mounds National Monument. A determination will then be reached as to where the remains will go. Doershuk said that the consultation process is what would have happened with the remains had they stayed at Effigy Mounds in 1990. The remains were taken following the passage of a law that took effect in 1990 requiring museums to return some remains and burial objects to the tribes. 

 
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