NAGPRA: The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
https://www.congress.gov/bill/101st-congress/house-bill/5237
what is NAGPRA?
NAGPRA is a federal law passed in 1990 intended to return ownership and control of Native American human remains and funerary or sacred objects to appropriate descendant communities.
who are descendant communities?
Descendant communities are made up of people with ancestral ties to a historic population.
In the context of NAGPRA, descendant communities include lineal descendants, the Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization on whose land remains or sacred objects were found, or the group with the closest cultural affiliation to remains or sacred objects.
At Jamestown, relevant descendant communities include eleven state recognized tribes, of which seven are also federally recognized (italicized below). Additional groups, particularly tribes in the Eastern Algonquian language family currently based in nearby states, also have connections to Jamestown through the broad political and trade networks that existed when the English colonists arrived in 1607. At that time, Jamestown Island was Paspahegh territory.
- Chickahominy Indian Tribe Providence Forge, VA
- Chickahominy Indians Eastern Division Providence Forge, VA
- Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe Courtland, VA
- Monacan Indian Nation Amherst, VA
- Nansemond Indian Nation Suffolk, VA
- Nottoway Indian Tribe Capron, VA
- Pamunkey Indian Tribe King William, VA
- Rappahannock Tribe Indian Neck, VA
- Mattaponi Indian Tribe West Point, VA
- Patawomeck Indian Tribe Fredericksburg, VA
- Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe King William, VA
For more information on Virginia’s federally recognized tribes, please visit this link.
For more information on Virginia’s state recognized tribes, please visit this link.
what does NAGPRA apply to?
All Native American human remains and associated funerary and sacred objects collected on federal or tribal lands or held in collections which receive federal funding are subject to NAGPRA. Many other organizations not legally obligated to comply with NAGPRA because they are not under federal control still choose to do so because it provides an ethical framework for handling Native American remains and sacred objects.
how does NAGPRA apply to the Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological collection?
While Jamestown Rediscovery/Preservation Virginia is a nonprofit organization and the property is not federal or tribal land, the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation which supports the archaeological project has received federal funding. Thus, Jamestown Rediscovery complies with applicable NAGPRA requirements.
No Native American burials have been excavated by Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists on Preservation Virginia property. If future analysis such as DNA testing indicates that human remains in the collection have native ancestry, Jamestown Rediscovery and Preservation Virginia are committed to ensuring they are handled in accordance with all NAGPRA requirements.
Jamestown Rediscovery never purchases or sells artifacts. The Jamestown Rediscovery archaeological project and foundation’s combined mission is to excavate, interpret, preserve, conserve, and research the findings from the site. Jamestown Rediscovery is committed to community engagement and maintains open communication and relationships with Virginia tribes, descendant communities, and researchers including the maintenance of open collections policies and access to artifacts.
Nearly all artifacts in the Jamestown Collection have been recovered from contexts which date to the period of English occupation of the site or later. Determining ownership and use of these artifacts can be complex. Jamestown Rediscovery staff is in the process of reaching out to appropriate descendant communities in order to correctly identify a small number of artifacts in the collection that could potentially be considered sacred objects to ascertain whether they should be repatriated, and if so, to whom.
In honor of the Pamunkey Tribe’s federal recognition in 2016, Preservation Virginia repatriated the Queen of Pamunkey Frontlet to the tribe. This object was presented to Cockacoeske, the Queen of the Pamunkey, by King Charles II of England after the signing of the Treaty of Middle Plantation in 1677. The frontlet was purchased by Preservation Virginia in the early 19th century from a private collector, and it was held at Jamestown until its repatriation. The frontlet is an important physical representation of the last treaty negotiation between the Pamunkey and England, and historical continuity of the tribe in Virginia. Please visit the Pamunkey Museum and Cultural Center for more information.
Jamestown Island occupies lands that in the 17th century were once part of the ancestral territory of the Paspaheghs, a prominent people of the Powhatan paramount chiefdom, Tsenacommacah. Archaeological evidence testifies to the long history of occupation of the Island by First Peoples stretching back at least 12,000 years. Jamestown Rediscovery is committed to honoring the Indigenous men and women who inhabited Jamestown Island for millennia. We are also committed to working with the First Peoples of Virginia, including our 11 state-recognized and 7 federally-recognized tribes: the Chickahominy, Chickahominy Eastern Division, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, Upper Mattaponi, Rappahannock, Nansemond, Patawomeck, Nottoway, Cheroenhaka Nottoway, and Monacan peoples.
