Putting patria back into repatriation

Abstract

In 2003 and 2004 the White Mountain Apache Tribe worked with the Hopi and Zuni tribes and the Western Apache NAGPRA Working Group on a geography-based cultural affiliation assessment of trust lands on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in the uplands of eastern Arizona. The project partnership examined a broad array of evidence bearing on cultural affiliation as a basis for improved implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Information provided by representatives of the historical and ancient American Indian occupants of White Mountain Apache lands complemented existing archaeological data about cultural affiliation, thus shifting the focus from artifacts and archaeologically defined cultural groups to sacred landscapes and forms of knowledge linking geography, people, and archaeology. The project provided specific recommendations for intertribal repatriation and reburial efforts as well as more general guidelines for cultural and environmental heritage stewardship.