Page 139 - Knighted_2018

Ocmulgee National Monument offers a unique example of NAGPRA's ability to unite
and its frequent power to divide. At Ocmulgee National Monument affiliation with collections
held by both the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institute becomes complicated
depending on which time period a particular set of Native remains or burial object dates from. In
the case of historic Creek burials and artifacts, both the NPS and the Smithsonian agree that the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation has the closest connection with these artifacts.27 However, when
discussion of cultural affiliation turns to Mississippian, or older, era burials the consensus
disappears. The Muscogee Nation and the NPS agree that enough reasonable evidence exists to
argue that historic Creek culture was directly connected to older Mississippian era society, but
the Smithsonian Institute disputes this claim and continues to enforce fictitious cultural
barricades on the Creek Nation's history and its rights to culturally significant items and ancestral
remains.28 The Smithsonian has thus far been successful in its attempts to separate the prehistoric
and historic cultures at Ocmulgee National Monument despite historic, anthropological, and
archaeological evidence to the contrary, which is supported by the oral traditions of the
Muscogee (Creek) Nation.29

The end of the Mississippian period is usually dated to within 100 years after the arrival
of Hernando de Soto's 1539-43 expedition into the Southeastern region of today's United States.
In his account of this expedition, de Soto briefly describes traveling in the region of modern
Middle Georgia, having left the kingdom of the Apalache30 following rumors of a powerful

27 A note on nomenclature: historic Creek refers to people living in the Southeastern region of the United States
from the time of Hernando de' Soto's expedition until the Indian removals of the 1830s. These people spoke a
form of the Muskogean language family and later identified themselves as part of the Creek Confederacy or
simply as Creeks. Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Muscogee Nation, and Creek Nation refer to the modern Muscogee
(Creek) Nation of Ok.

28 Davis, interview by author, February 1, 2018.
29 Spain, interview by author, Macon, February 2, 2018.
30 The modern spelling for the American Indian group in this region is Apalachee.

134