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Title
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NAGPRA Review Committee Meetings 73-74, November 12-23, 2021, Virtual
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Date
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2021
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Bibliographic Citation
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NAGPRA Review Committee. 2021. NAGPRA Review Committee Meetings 73-74, November 12-23, 2021, Virtual. November 12-23, 2021. https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2287956.
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annotates
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This set of documents summarizes the request for a Finding of Fact by a coalition of Muskogean-speaking Tribes to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Review Committee.
The Tribes seek a formal finding of cultural affiliation between themselves and the human remains and funerary items removed from and adjacent to the Moundville archaeological site (1TU500) in Alabama.
The University of Alabama, which holds these collections, has expressed uncertainty about cultural affiliation and has been criticized by descendant Nations for a lack of productive consultation and for stalled repatriation efforts, particularly regarding funerary items.
The Tribes presented extensive evidence across archaeological, linguistic, oral tradition, geographical, kinship, biological, historical, and anthropological criteria to demonstrate a strong and continuous shared identity with the Moundville population.
The NAGPRA Review Committee ultimately found, by a majority vote, that there is a "preponderance of the evidence for cultural affiliation" between the Moundville collections and the Muskogean-speaking Tribes.
These documents, including the transcript of the meeting, amd a YouTube recording of the information presentation are invaluable for understanding the ancestral ties of Muskogean Indigenous Nations to precontact archaeology in Alabama, and beyond.
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Video Recording 2021 1123 Meeting 74
