by Mary Lowers
On Wednesday, October 14, 2015 the bodily remains of twenty some souls were laid to their final rest in the Crestone Natural Burial Ground. The Denver Museum of Science and Nature brought the remains, which were part of their collection for many years, to our cemetery because we have the only natural burial ground in the state and they wanted to respectfully inter the bones.
Many museums have the problem with what to do with unidentifiable remains in their collections. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century cadavers were often given to museums and medical schools for research and educational purposes. The ceremony in Crestone is a new way to deal with human remains in collections. Steve Nash, Museum Curator of Archeology and Head of the Anthropology Department told the Pueblo Chieftain, “What we are doing is radical. Most places just keep the stuff on the shelf.”
Maura O’Neal, museum contact for this event said, “We have very little information on the remains that were buried in Crestone, which is why we determined that the best way to honor them would be to bury them rather than keep them in our collection.” An example of the sorts of bones were buried here is a complete human skeleton a Denver doctor had picked up in France decades ago that his family donated to the museum after his death. Even CSI would have a tricky time identifying them.
The museum staff consulted secular and spiritual sources prior to bringing the remains to Crestone for burial. Ann Bunting, who attended the ceremony, told me, “The service was very respectful of the odd situation of burying people whose backgrounds were unknown. I appreciated their sense of ethics and determination to do the right thing with the remains. It was a moving collaboration between the museum and Crestone.”
Crestone Mayor Kairina Danforth, whose vision and hard work helped to create Crestone cemetery’s natural burial grounds, the first in the state of Colorado, was especially pleased to be able to collaborate with the museum.
A reception was held at the Crestone Community Building after the burial and ceremony.