NAGPRA IN THE REAL WORLD

1
NAGPRA IN THE REAL WORLD

• Compliance at the Burke Museum

2
Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act

• Requires museums to consult with Native American
  tribes about the return of human remains,
  funerary objects, sacred items, and objects of
  cultural patrimony
• 1990 Law enacted
• 1993 Summaries due
• 1995 Detailed Inventories due
• 6 months later Notices published

3
Repatriation Process From 43 CFR 10

• Summaries (1993)
• Consult
• Wait for possible claim
• Claim received/review
• Publish Notice
• Repatriate

• Inventories (1995)
• Consult
• Determine Cultural Affiliation
• Publish Notice
• Repatriate

4
Repatriation Process in the Real World

• Summaries and Inventories reported
• Consultation
• Updating summaries and inventories
• Continuing consultation
• Wait
• Claims submitted by Tribe or Native entity
• Continuing consultation
• Draft Notice of Inventory Completion/Intent to
  Repatriate submitted to tribes
• Wait
• Draft Notice of Inventory Completion/Intent to
  Repatriate submitted to tribes
• Wait
• Continuing consultation
• Planning for reburial
• Publication of Notice in Federal Register
• 30 day waiting period
• Continuing consultation
• If uncontested, return to Tribe/Native entity or
  held in trust at the Burke
• Transfer/Reburial

5
Compliance Challenges

• Unrealistic timelines
• Interpreting Funerary Objects
• Reviewing Collections
• Little contextual information/Determining
  aboriginal territories
• Politics/situation of non-federally recognized
  tribes
• Turnover in personnel
• Mailed copies of catalog records to Native
  entities
• Records often did not reach appropriate personnel
• Records not kept when personnel changes made
• Catalog records difficult to organize
• Extensive consultations with Washington and
  Oregon State Tribes
• Difficult to reach from out of state
• Visitation limited to select community members
• Lacked display of spatial relationships

6
Unwritten rules of NAGPRA Consultations

• Take your time to build relationships
• Face to face meetings
• Be open
• Allow space and time for cultural practices
• Be aware of power dynamic and cultural structure
• Use respectful language
• Confidential
• Invite elders/ tribal staff

7
(No Transcript)
8
Determining Cultural Affiliation

• Present day group with standing
• Identifiable earlier group

9
Cultural Affiliation Lines of Evidence

• Geographical
• Kinship
• Biological
• Archaeological
• Anthropological
• Linguistic
• Folkloric
• Oral tradition
• Historical
• Other relevant information

10
(No Transcript)
11

• Indian Reservation Land Map

12
Insert Burke GIS Map
13
Biological

• Types of data
• biologically distinct population
• Osteometric data
• DNA
• Isotope or bone chemistry
• Cultural modifications
• Cranial modifications
• Copper staining
• Red ochre
• Evidence of cremation

14
Archaeological/Anthropological

• Types of data
• Material culture- styles, techniques
• Phases
• Settlement patterns
• Subsistence patterns
• Trade
• Social and cultural patterns (ie burial patterns,
  etc.)

15
Other relevant information/sources

• Published Notices
• State Reports available on National NAGPRA
  Website
• Consult with area museums

16
Case studies

• Standard Claim
• Old Man House- Suquamish Tribe
• Intertribal Claim
• Plateau Intertribal Claim- Colville, Nez Perce,
  Yakama, Umatilla, Wanapum, Warm Springs
• Unique Claims
• T'xwelátse - Nooksack/Stolo

17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
(No Transcript)
21
T'xwelátse Repatriation Ceremony
22
Celebration at Nooksack
23
NAGPRA Progress

• 1996- Chugach Alaska Corporation
• 1997- Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and Oklahoma
• Squaxin Island Tribe
• The Puyallup Tribe of Indians
• SKlallam- Jamestown, Lower Elwha, Port Gamble
• Skokomish Indian Tribe
• 2003- The Klamath Tribes
• 2005- Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
  Reservation
• 2006- Confederated Tribes of the Colville
  Reservation
• Native Village of Barrow
• Nooksack Indian Tribe
• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation
• Confederated Tribes of the Yakama Reservation
• The Puyallup Tribe of Indians
• Joint Claim Confederated Tribes of the
  Umatilla Reservation, Confederated Tribes of the
  Yakama Reservation, and Wanapum Band
• (Department of Energy)
• 2007- Confederated Tribes of the Colville
  Reservation
• Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation

24
NAGPRA Status- Burke Museum

• As of July 2009
• 272 human remains
• 24,190 funerary objects
• 1 objects of cultural patrimony
• 47 Notices

25
NAGPRA Status- National level

• National Repatriations as of November 2006
• 31,995 human remains
• 669,554 associated funerary objects
• 118,227 unassociated funerary objects
• 3,584 sacred objects
• 281 objects of cultural patrimony
• 764 objects of cultural patrimony/sacred objects

26
NAGPRA Financial Aspects

• National NAGPRA Grants from 1994-2005
• 17 million to Tribes
• 8 million to Museums and Agencies
• Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology
• Est. 7 million to complete
• Burke
• Est. over 1.5 million
• Received 325,725 from National NAGPRA Grants

27
Tribal Experiences/ Perspectives

• 55 had made claims for human remains or cultural
  items
• 90 of these claims were successful
• Of these 77 were reburied, 13 stored in a
  repository/museum, 14 researched
• Repatriation process described as tedious and
  are frustrated with paternalistic attitudes and
  incomplete, inaccurate, and confusing inventories
  and descriptions
• Process bureaucratic and an economic burden
• Causes both grief and healing
• experience has been mainly positive and is one
  of the most positive steps towards
  self-determination in this century.

28
Questions?