Ancient bones to be reburied

The remains of a Tocobaga Indian will be ceremoniously returned to sacred ground.

By KAMEEL STANLEY

SAFETY HARBOR - In fall 2003, someone left a small, unwanted box on the doorstep of the Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History.

No one thought anything of it for months, until, during a routine inventory of the museum's artifact room, workers lifted the lid.

What they found - a pile of human bones and several ancient artifacts - set off an effort that lasted nearly a year and determined the remains are those of a Tocobaga Indian who lived in the area as much as 1, 100 years ago.

And so, after considering ways to handle the remains with dignity, the museum and a local American Indian group will bury them in a ceremony this Saturday.

"This is an unusual, rare proceeding, " said Walter Bowman, the museum's educational director. "It's something the public isn't going to see, if ever, again."

The Spirit People Intertribal Family, a multitribal group, is handling the burial.

"Our burial grounds have been desecrated, " said Pamela Davison, known as Waterbird, who is the group's spiritual leader. "It is a great and tremendous honor for us to be asked to bring this ancestor back to where they belong."

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