Society, Law & Politics

Rape boosts risk of incarceration for women four-fold, new study suggests

Lisa Marshall — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 22:29:54 +0000

Rape boosts risk of incarceration for women four-fold, new study suggests Lisa Marshall Tue, 04/29/2025 - 16:29

Lisa Marshall

Women in prison are four times as likely to report having been raped in their lifetime than those who are not incarcerated and 10 times as likely to report having been raped as a child, according to newly published research by a CU �鶹ӰԺ criminologist.

The first-of-a-kind study, 15 years in the making , also found that rape significantly increased a young woman’s chances of dropping out of high school—another known risk factor for incarceration.

The findings were published in the journal Criminal Justice and Behavior.

Joanne Belknap

“The big picture finding here is that being raped overwhelmingly increases your chances of going to prison,” said lead author Joanne Belknap, professor emeritus in the Department of Ethnic Studies. “Our research suggests that this thing that can happen to you when you’re a kid, and maybe you don’t even know what it is or how to name it at the time, can influence the entire trajectory of your life.”

Counting the forgotten

The study is not the first to find that victims of sexual violence are at greater risk of ending up behind bars.

As far back as 1918, a published account of life in a Pennsylvania prison found an “extremely high prevalence” of past sexual victimization among women there. One 2020 review found that as many as 8 in 10 incarcerated women report having been sexually assaulted in some way.

That compares to about one in four in the general public.

Such assaults, some research suggests, can boost risk of substance use disorders and mental health issues, potentially leading to criminal activity.

Belknap has spent decades working in carceral institutions, conducting research and workshops, teaching college courses, and advocating for women, men and children behind bars. She’s heard the stories time and again.

She recalls one woman in a prison workshop telling her and the other participants how a childhood minister had raped her when she was five years old. He appeared at the prison where she was incarcerated years later asking for forgiveness. She told him: “I can’t do that. I feel like I never would have been here if you hadn’t done that to me.”

But while anecdotes are common, researchers struggle to get solid data because the Centers for Disease Control’s ongoing National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) does not include women living in mental institutions or prisons.

‘These are our moms, our sisters and our aunts’

For the newly published study, co-author Cathy McDaniels Wilson, an Ohio-based psychologist, set out to fill that gap.

In 2010, she distributed surveys to a random sample of women in Ohio’s four state prisons. Wilson sat down with women in small groups as they filled out the questionnaire, which covered detailed measures of sexual violence, from unwanted kissing and touching to legal but inappropriate sexual coercion and rape.

Aware that the questions could be traumatizing, the researchers ensured that participants had access to counseling afterward.

Cathy Wilson

In all, 716 incarcerated women participated.

Many tearfully thanked Wilson afterward, saying they were grateful to finally be counted.

“We often don't think of being inclusive of those who are incarcerated, but it is important to look at the trajectory that may have gotten them there,” said Wilson. “Many of these women experience abuse in the home, end up running away, on drugs, engaged in prostitution or other activities. These are our moms, our sisters and our aunts.”

With no designated funding for the project, Belknap—a sexual assault survivor herself—made it her mission to continue cleaning and scouring the data, and ultimately got access to the NISVS data for the general population in Ohio for the same time period. Then she compared the two.

“This is unprecedented. There’s never been a sexual abuse study that looks at the same geographic region at the same time asking very similar questions,” said Belknap.

The study found that, across every one of the 13 comparable measures of sexual violence analyzed, women in Ohio prisons were significantly more likely to experience sexual violence than women in surrounding communities. This gap was typically widest for the most severe sexual abuses.

Specifically, 17% of women in the general population reported that they had been raped at some point. Among incarcerated women, that number was 70%. Nearly one-third of incarcerated women reported being raped before age 11, compared to less than 2% of those who were not incarcerated. Half of incarcerated women reported being raped by age 18, more than 10 times what women in surrounding communities reported.

Across both samples, women who were raped before age 11 were 15% less likely to graduate from high school.

A call for more support

The study looked at only one year in one state, Belknap notes.

"But to be able to document this in such detail, no matter what time period it is from, is so important,” she said.

She and Wilson, who now counsels sexual violence survivors in her private practice, are confident that if they were to do the survey again today, the results would be similar.

They urge other researchers to follow their lead and begin including incarcerated women across the country as they track sexual violence in the U.S.

Wilson and Belknap also call for greater support for survivors of all ages, both inside and outside of prison.

“Every time I am in a carceral facility I have this feeling well up,” said Belknap, who credits therapy, which she was fortunate enough to have access to, for getting her back on track after her own rape history. “I think ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’”

For 15 years, criminologist Joanne Belknap has worked to compare sexual assault rates among women in prison with those in surrounding communities at the same time. Her findings are out, and they shocked even her.

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In the archaeological record, size does matter

Megan Maneval — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 17:52:09 +0000

In the archaeological record, size does matter Megan Maneval Mon, 04/21/2025 - 11:52

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

CU �鶹ӰԺ archaeologist Scott Ortman and colleagues around the world explore relationships between housing size and inequality in this PNAS special feature.

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Courting justice

Megan Maneval — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 16:27:24 +0000

Courting justice Megan Maneval Fri, 04/18/2025 - 10:27

College of Media, Communication and Information

Video evidence appears in 80% of criminal cases, but a lack of consistent guidelines means there’s no standard for how media are presented in court. A workshop led by College of Media, Communication and Information faculty may change that.

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Embracing all the joy in Mudville

Megan Maneval — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 19:07:19 +0000

Embracing all the joy in Mudville Megan Maneval Thu, 04/10/2025 - 13:07

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

Even though Major League Baseball faces an uncertain future in its 150th season, Opening Day still held a special place in the culture and fans’ hearts.

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As 401Ks, college funds plunge, expert advises patience over panic

Yvaine Ye — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 19:15:02 +0000

As 401Ks, college funds plunge, expert advises patience over panic Yvaine Ye Wed, 04/09/2025 - 13:15

Lisa Marshall

Editor's note: The S&P 500 spiked 9.5 percent Wednesday after President Trump announced a 90-day pause on proposed tariffs.

U.S. financial markets continued their week-long roller-coaster ride Wednesday, rattling the nerves of the roughly two-thirds of Americans who hold stock of some kind.

“Seeing trillions of dollars of wealth disappear from people’s retirement accounts in two days is pretty shocking,” said Shaun Davies, referring to last week’s market sell-off after President Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs. “Any of us who have logged into our 401Ks recently have had to get the Tums out.”

CU �鶹ӰԺ Today caught up with Davies, associate professor of finance at the Leeds School of Business, to get his take on the recent stock market plunge, how worried we should be, and what’s to come.

Shaun Davies

Has anything like this ever happened before?

This is unusual, but not unprecedented. Not to bring up the Great Depression, but, we saw corrections like this in 1929. We saw them when France was taken over by Germany during World War II. We saw them in October of 1987, when, on “Black Monday,” the Dow dropped 22% in a single trading session, and again in the early 2000s with September 11 and the dot-com bubble bursting. The one that's most salient to most of us is the 2008 great financial crisis after the fall of Lehman Brothers, and there was a short little blip in March of 2020, during COVID.

Some might be tempted to pull their money out. What would you tell them?

Last week definitely blind-sided markets. Everyone knew these tariff announcements were coming out. But they were far more extreme than expected. When you see markets down 10% over two days, you say, I don't want to be a part of this. But it's really hard for an individual to time markets and know when to stay in and get out. One of the best things you could do is talk to a professional. When markets are up, nobody thinks they need financial advice. But during times like this, when they talk you off the ledge from doing something you’ll regret, they’re really valuable.

But why stay in?

You have to separate yourself emotionally from the investment and remember that, in exchange for our willingness to take risk, we earn compensation during good times. For example, in 2023 and 2024 the S&P 500 was up over 20%. That is compensation for moments like right now. Back in March of 2009, the market was plummeting. Everyone wanted to get out. But if you did, you missed one of the best bull runs in stock market history. Your goal is to build wealth over that long runway to retirement, where your good years offset your bad years and you make something like a 10% or 15% average return per year over that horizon.

What if your kid is going to college soon?

The 529 (college savings plan) is unique in that it's a relatively short horizon from when you start contributing to when you withdraw. If you’re concerned that tuition is due in the fall and you feel like you have a sufficient amount, it may be prudent to pull that money out, put it into something like a money market fund, where you'll still get a little over 4%, and at least you know you have that nest egg for tuition. Again, talk with your financial advisor.

What if you have cash to invest right now? Should you just tuck it under your mattress?

No. You definitely do not want to put your money under the mattress. We are in a period of relatively high inflation, still about 3%, so if you are just holding on to cash you are going to lose purchasing power because goods are going to go up in price. If you want something safe and short-duration, consider a money market fund, short-term U.S. Treasury bills, or short-duration U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS).

How is this different than past corrections?

2008 was a very scary time, because lots of governments, companies and pensions were holding bonds backed by things like subprime mortgages, and we had no idea what they were worth. In 2020, with the global pandemic, it was a quick blip with a quick recovery.

The concern here with these tariffs is the impact of all the uncertainty on the real economy. I can't imagine being a CFO of a fortune 500 company debating whether to take production on shore. You might make some huge capital investment, build factories in the United States, and then the U.S. tariff policy totally changes with a single tweet. If I were a CFO right now, I'd just be sitting on my hands, and that's going to have real implications. I imagine we're going to see corporations providing guidance that the next few years may not be as profitable. We're going to have supply chain disruptions. It could disrupt the labor market. Who knows?

How long will this craziness last?

There's a great gauge of volatility called the VIX index, which tracks the potential for volatility in the market over the next 30 days. The math is a bit complex, but one truism is that a high VIX corresponds with high anticipated volatility in returns. A normal VIX is between 15 and 20. This past week, we've seen the VIX around 50, which is huge. Buckle up. It’s going to be a roller coaster.

CU �鶹ӰԺ Today regularly publishes Q&As with our faculty members weighing in on news topics through the lens of their scholarly expertise and research/creative work. The responses here reflect the knowledge and interpretations of the expert and should not be considered the university position on the issue. All publication content is subject to edits for clarity, brevity and university style guidelines.

�鶹ӰԺ two-thirds of Americans own stock, and many have been watching as their savings have tanked. CU �鶹ӰԺ Finance Professor Shaun Davies offers his take on the market's wild ride and what investors should consider.

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The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange. (Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

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The trading floor at the New York Stock Exchange. (Credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

Religious studies professor says Twelver Shi’ism is open to discourse

Megan Maneval — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 16:25:23 +0000

Religious studies professor says Twelver Shi’ism is open to discourse Megan Maneval Mon, 03/24/2025 - 10:25

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

Associate Professor Aun Hasan Ali’s book about Islam’s School of Hillah explores the dynamics and formation of Twelver Shi’ism, arguing that the faith was open to diverse intellectual traditions.

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How March went mad ... for basketball

Megan Maneval — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 19:12:37 +0000

How March went mad ... for basketball Megan Maneval Thu, 03/20/2025 - 13:12

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

The big business of the annual college basketball tournament—when fans throughout the country prepare to watch 136 men’s and women’s basketball teams battle—has been more than a century in the making.

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People of color breathe Denver’s smelliest air

Yvaine Ye — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:56:51 +0000

People of color breathe Denver’s smelliest air Yvaine Ye Thu, 03/13/2025 - 09:56

Yvaine Ye

In Denver, people of color and those with lower household incomes are more likely to live in neighborhoods near facilities that emit bad smells, a new CU �鶹ӰԺ-led study reported.

For many Denver residents, the city’s crisp mountain air is a perk of living near the Rocky Mountains. But every so often, a gust of wind can carry less welcome scents, like the pungent odor of pet food factories or the skunky smell of marijuana grow houses.

In a paper published Feb. 22 in the Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, scientists revealed inequality in exposure to Denver’s odor. The research found that while racial minorities and socioeconomically marginalized communities are more likely to be exposed to bad smells, residents in gentrifying neighborhoods file more odor complaints.

If you experience strong environmental odors:

Submit a complaint to the City and County of Denver by phone at 720-913-1311, or email at 311@denvergov.org.

“Our study suggests that there's potentially an underreporting of odor in certain neighborhoods,” said first author Priyanka deSouza, a researcher with CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Institute for Behavioral Science and assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver. “Some residents in these communities that are disproportionally affected by odor may not feel that their voices are being heard.”

Before 2016, Denver, like many cities across the U.S., used an inefficient and archaic way to address odor issues, according to Shelly Miller, the paper’s senior author and professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU �鶹ӰԺ.

Traditionally, when the city received complaints about an odor issue, an odor inspector would go to the site and sniff through an odor measuring device, but these inspections often found nothing. Because odor is very transient, by the time the inspector arrived, the smell might be long gone.

A 1938 map illustrates the redlining of neighborhoods in the City and County of Denver. (Credit: Home Owners' Loan Corporation/Wikimedia Commons)

“Odor is a complex issue. It’s very hard to measure, and it’s subjective. You probably smell things differently than I do, but that doesn’t mean what you’re smelling is any less valid than what I’m smelling,” Miller said.

Miller’s previous studies in odor and air quality, as well as concerns from local communities, prompted the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment to update its air pollution control ordinance in 2016. A new rule requires odor emitting facilities, including pet food factories and marijuana growers, to submit odor control plans if they receive five or more complaints within a 30-day period.

“This updated rule is one of the most innovative odor ordinances of all major cities in the U.S. It’s willing to take action based on community complaints,” deSouza said.

The team mapped out all 265 facilities in Denver that had to submit an odor control plan as of 2023. More than 96% of these facilities were marijuana growers, processors and manufacturers. The rest included pet food manufacturing, oil refining and construction.

They found that malodorous facilities are more often located in historically redlined neighborhoods. After the Great Depression, the U.S. government implemented a racist and discriminatory policy that designated neighborhoods with racial and ethnic minority residents as high-risk, or “red” for mortgage lenders.

In Denver, these neighborhoods are located along the city’s two major interstate highways, I-70 and I-25, and still host a higher percentage of people of color. A prior CU �鶹ӰԺ study revealed that residents in these historically redlined areas are exposed to higher levels of air pollution.

When the team compared the odor facility map to an odor complaint map, they found that neighborhoods more susceptible to odor did not file more complaints than other neighborhoods. Instead, more complaints per population came from older neighborhoods that are transitioning into more modern, wealthier neighborhoods, like River North in Denver’s city center.

It is unclear why gentrification has led to more odor complaints, but it could be that the more privileged feel more empowered to file complaints, the authors said. New residents could also be more sensitive to the city’s smells compared to long-term residents.

“Given that odor complaints are the primary driver for Denver to take action on odor control, I hope our findings could encourage the city to continue working on rebuilding trust with these communities and empower them to use the tool,” deSouza said.

Beyond the story

Our bioscience impact by the numbers:

Top 7% university for National Science Foundation research funding
No. 30 global university system granted U.S. patents
89-plus biotech startups with roots at CU �鶹ӰԺ in past 20 years

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A new study found racial and socioeconomic disparities in where odor-emitting marijuana grow houses and other malodorous factories are located in Denver and in how communities report these issues.

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Ariel view of Denver. (Credit: Jacob/Adobe Stock)

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‘Kenough’: Is ‘Barbie’ more revolutionary for men than women?

Megan Maneval — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 16:41:08 +0000

‘Kenough’: Is ‘Barbie’ more revolutionary for men than women? Megan Maneval Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:41

Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine

A CU �鶹ӰԺ doctoral student’s paper argues that the hit film “Barbie” exemplifies “masculinity without patriarchy” in media.

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'You don't throw them in plastic bags or boxes.' Archaeologists, Indigenous scholars call on museums to better care for animal remains

Daniel William Strain — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:01:39 +0000

'You don't throw them in plastic bags or boxes.' Archaeologists, Indigenous scholars call on museums to better care for animal remains Daniel William… Mon, 03/10/2025 - 10:01

Daniel Strain

Two years ago, Chance Ward began opening boxes of horse remains that had been shipped to the CU Museum of Natural History from other institutions around the country. What he saw made his heart sink.

At the time, Ward was a master’s student in Museum and Field Studies at CU �鶹ӰԺ. The researcher, who had grown up riding horses, was taking part in a large-scale study exploring the history of these iconic animals in the American West. But when he looked inside the packages, he sometimes found bones in disarray—horse remains were in bags and boxes with little care or cushioning and had banged together in transit, occasionally causing damage.

Ward is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe in South Dakota and a member of the Mnicoujou and Hunkpapa bands of the Lakota Nation. Lakota traditions, like those of many other Native American groups in the West, place animals at the center of their spirituality and view them as relatives.

“You care for horses. You not only feed and water them, but you connect with them on a personal, spiritual level,” Ward said. “Even when they pass on, you still respect and honor them as non-human relatives. You don't throw them in plastic bags or boxes.”

Today, he’s leading a team of archaeologists and Indigenous scholars urging museums around the country to take a more respectful approach to caring for animal remains. It’s an example of what the researchers call “cultural humility,” an approach to engaging with different cultures that emphasizes self reflection, lifelong learning and recognizing power imbalances. The team says that museums must partner with Native American groups to rethink how they catalogue, store and display remains.

The group laid out its approach in a paper published this month in the journal Advances in Archaeological Practice.

“Now that Native people are getting into the museum field more, there’s been a greater understanding of things like representation and having control over our own cultures and issues that affect our cultures,” Ward said. “The old way of doing archaeological methods is outdated and in need of fresh perspectives.”

William Taylor, curator of archaeology at the CU museum and the study’s senior author, agreed. In 1990, U.S. Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). It requires institutions that receive federal funding to return human remains, sacred objects and more to Indigenous people.

But NAGPRA, which often doesn’t apply to animal remains, is not the only principle that should guide how museums act, said Taylor, author of the 2024 book Hoof Beats: How Horses Shaped Human History.

“We need to reframe the way we think about museums. Are they places where we treat archaeological objects as inanimate things?” he said. “Or are they places of living stewardship that come with responsibilities, some of which include connecting and listening?”

Chance Ward with a horse skull at the CU Museum of Natural History. (Credit: Samantha Eads)

Life on horseback

Ward, who now serves as the NAGPRA Coordinator for the State of Colorado and Office of the State Archaeologist, grew up on the Cheyenne River Reservation where horses were an essential part of his life. His father’s family owned a ranch, and every spring, Ward helped to round up cattle on horseback. He remembers when his dad first put him on a horse at age 8.

“There was no riding lesson. It was just ‘get on, and let’s go,’” Ward said. “I remember telling myself, ‘I’m not going to fall off no matter what’ because I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Historically, the field of archaeology hasn’t always treated animals with respect. During many early digs, researchers overlooked the animal bones they found during their work. They often removed those objects from their cultural context and even threw them away.

Ward wants to change that. He noted that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for how to treat the remains of horses, bison and more. There are currently more than 570 federally recognized Tribes in the U.S. and more recognized by the states, all of which hold their own distinct views on the living world.

But museums can begin by thoroughly documenting all the animal remains they have in their collections. Many institutions, Ward said, don’t even know what kinds of bones they have hiding in boxes and cabinets in rooms away from the public eye.

Study co-author Jimmy Arterberry, a tribal historian for the Comanche Nation in Oklahoma, sees the new paper as an urgent call to action. He acknowledges that most museums today are short on funding and staff. But he says institutions can still do a lot right now to change how they handle animal remains.

“Why are you keeping them if you’re not going to care for them?” Arterberry said.

Bison herd

Arterberry and Ward agree that the most important thing museums can do today is listen to Native American groups. NAGPRA requires museums to obtain consent from Native American nations around how these institutions store, house and treat many archaeological collections.

The CU museum is committed to strengthening relationships and honoring knowledge. Taylor and his colleagues began with one of the museum’s most extensive collections: In the 20th century, archaeologists at the museum unearthed thousands of bison bones from an arroyo near the tiny town of Kit Carson, Colorado. Ancient peoples had hunted and butchered the animals following the end of the last Ice Age roughly 11,000 years ago. Archaeologists originally stored nearly 200 bison skulls in plaster or burlap casts. But decades later, many of those casts were fragmenting, threatening the remains inside.

Over several months, the team transferred the skulls to stable and open casts and arranged them safely on shelves in a new storage space. In February 2024, a delegation of Lakota elders traveled to the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus to meet with researchers and to see the bison collection. Chief Harold Left Heron spoke and sang a blessing in the Lakota language as he stood next to the remains.

“One of their suggestions was to keep these animals together as a herd in the museum, as they might have been in life,” Taylor said.

Going forward, he said, the museum will continue seeking out opportunities to build community perspectives into the care of ancient animal remains.

Ward said that anyone can learn a lot by forming interpersonal relationships with animals like his own favorites, horses.

“Just being there with them, standing next to them, feeling them physically and spiritually is very powerful,” he said. “It takes both sides, the horse and human, to connect with each other and be comfortable—but not so comfortable that we dominate them.”

Other co-authors of the new study include Christina Cain, former collections manager at the CU Museum of Natural History; Dr. Joseph Aguilar at the Tribal Historic Preservation Office for Pueblo de San Ildefonso in New Mexico; Natalie Patton, a graduate of the CU Museum of Natural History; and Dr. Emily Lena Jones at the University of New Mexico.

Beyond the Story

Our research impact by the numbers:

$742 million in research funding earned in 2023–24
No. 5 U.S. university for startup creation
$1.4 billion impact of CU �鶹ӰԺ's research activities on the Colorado economy in 2023–24

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Many Native American traditions in the American West place animals like bison or horses at the center of their spirituality and view them as relatives.

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Society, Law & Politics

Rape boosts risk of incarceration for women four-fold, new study suggests

Counting the forgotten

‘These are our moms, our sisters and our aunts’

A call for more support

Related Articles

In the archaeological record, size does matter

Related Articles

Courting justice

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Embracing all the joy in Mudville

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As 401Ks, college funds plunge, expert advises patience over panic

Has anything like this ever happened before?

Some might be tempted to pull their money out. What would you tell them?

But why stay in?

What if your kid is going to college soon?

What if you have cash to invest right now? Should you just tuck it under your mattress?

How is this different than past corrections?

How long will this craziness last?

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Religious studies professor says Twelver Shi’ism is open to discourse

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'You don't throw them in plastic bags or boxes.' Archaeologists, Indigenous scholars call on museums to better care for animal remains

Life on horseback

Bison herd

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