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Title: Weaving Through Bureaucracy: Native Americans and NAGPRA Denny GaytonUniversity of MontanaProject TR


1
Weaving Through BureaucracyNative Americans and
NAGPRA Denny Gayton University of
Montana Project TRAIN
The Native American Graves Protection
Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) provides a systematic
process for determining the rights of lineal
descendants, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations to certain Native American human
remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and
objects of cultural patrimony with which they are
affiliated, and for the disposition of
discoveries on Federal and tribal land. NAGPRA is
a federal law passed in 1990. NAGPRA provides a
process for museums and federal agencies to
return certain Native American cultural items
human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects,
or objects of cultural patrimony to lineal
descendants, and culturally affiliated Indian
tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. NAGPRA
includes provisions for unclaimed and culturally
unidentifiable Native American cultural items,
intentional and inadvertent discovery of Native
American cultural items on federal and tribal
lands, and penalties for noncompliance and
illegal trafficking. In addition, NAGPRA
authorizes Federal grants to Indian tribes,
Native Hawaiian organizations, and museums to
assist with the documentation and repatriation of
Native American cultural items, and establishes
the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Review Committee to monitor the
NAGPRA process and facilitate the resolution of
disputes that may arise concerning repatriation
under NAGPRA.
Blackfeet Buffalo Bone Hide Scraper
Literature Cited Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act. 25 U.S.C.
3001 et seq. (1990) Final Regulations, 43 CFR 10
(1995) 43 CFR 10 - Updated (2003)
Blackfeet Buffalo Horned Headdress
The archaeological research Project TRAIN
initiated between Dr. Tom Foor at the University
of Montana Missoula and myself not only offered
valuable experience, hands-on learning and
exposure to a focused and deep measure of the
fields literature, but the project also
facilitated requested assistance to an Indian
community. The overall goal of the project was to
have the Blackfeet Indian tribal government
repatriate 57 cultural objects pursuant to the
Native American Graves Protection Repatriation
Act (NAGPRA) of 1990. Documentation and summaries
of the artifacts, belonging to a National Park
Service collection, constituted the mass of the
work for the professors while background research
into an overwhelming amount of relevant
anthropological literature occupied my time.
The literature that my research focused on
varied as much as the Blackfeet tribal knowledge
concerning their cultural objects varied. Major
ethnographic work conducted on behalf of the
Smithsonian Institution, technical anthropologic
studies, tribal stories, and biographies
comprising the four areas of anthropology served
as the foundation for my project. Literature
pertaining to social anthropology, linguistics,
physical anthropology and archaeology tied
together as stories and knowledge related to
archaeological sites were put into the context of
how the society was socially stratified and
produced different artifacts that are observed
today. Essentially, I had to be exposed to
enough literature so that I would have a
background to draw upon when the time came to
identify the objects, documenting and elaborating
on existing summaries of the NPS collection.
Professor Foor and I worked with Dr. Gregory
Campbell, University of Montana Anthropology
department chair, to document 57 artifacts
belonging to a NPS collection and review the
summaries associated, with the possibility of
revising those summaries. The identification
process was funded by the NPS through a grant
authorized by NAGPRA. The NPS collection,
containing the 57 objects, were held, on loan, in
a museum in Browning, Montana. All 57 objects
the NPS desired to have repatriated back to the
Blackfeet tribe were successfully identified and
the data was turned over to the NPS so they could
send a notice to the Blackfeet tribe for the
actual physical return to be initiated.
Blackfeet Painted Buffalo Hide Parfleche
Acknowledgments Research Mentor Tom Foor,
Ph.D. Funding NSF Grant Penney Kukuk,
Ph.D. Pat Hurley, Ph.D. Candace Tucker
Sam Grant
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