Fall 2025 Colloquium - Lukas Rieppel and Craig Howe

 

Abstract: During the second half of the 19th century, the United States dispatched legions of survey geologists to Lakotan treaty lands, where they were tasked with mapping the location and abundance of valuable resources for economic extraction. In addition, scientists also unearthed countless prehistoric fossils in the Badlands of what are now South Dakota and Nebraska, which were then accessioned to the “permanent collections” of museums in urban centers such as Chicago and New York. As they journeyed across the United States, these fossils were stripped of their original meanings and inserted into a new, teleological narrative about the evolutionary history of life on earth. By composing Earth histories that were billed as the one true creation story, survey geologists effectively sought to assert mastery over the deep history of newly colonized lands. In this presentation, we make a case for why prehistoric fossils taken from Lakotan treaty lands should be returned. In addition, we also provide a sketch for a new kind of exhibit featuring contemporary Lakotan artists alongside the material remains of prehistoric animals as a case study for how to interpret fossils from American Indian lands. This exhibit will focus on the lands, philosophies, and citizens of a specific tribal nation whose ongoing presence is central to a fuller understanding of the fossilized bones of animals currently on display all over the world, the site where they had been for millions of years, and their journey to imperial museums of natural history.