Page 148 - Knighted_2018

remained content to leave the status quo alone by maintaining possession of their Ocmulgee
collection. Unfortunately, this short interlude marked the extent of NAGPRA proceedings
between the Muscogee Nation and the Smithsonian for the next decade. As time wore on, the
Creek Nation established an enthusiastic repatriation team, eventually voicing their claims loudly
enough to no longer be easily ignored.72

During the summer of 2005, the Park Service at Ocmulgee National Monument hosted
the first face-to-face meeting between representatives of the Smithsonian and members of the
Muscogee Nation. Also present at this meeting were members of the twelve other tribes with
established NAGPRA rights to artifacts removed from Ocmulgee. The goal of this consultation
was to establish a rapport between two radically different sides and create a potential timeline for
repatriation. The American Indian representatives and the NPS both expected positive results and
a productive dialogue, but the meeting ended with anything but. The divide between the two
sides was apparent from the outset. The Muscogee Nation offered to take responsibility for the
reburial of all of the human remains and grave goods unearthed at Ocmulgee.73 The Smithsonian
quickly responded that the modern Native Americans share no cultural affiliation with skeletons
or artifacts dating from the Mississippian period or beyond. To defend their assertions, the
representatives from the Smithsonian Institute relied on the Creek origin narratives established
by years of Euro-centric scholarship, while completely ignoring the overwhelming evidence to
the contrary. Only seven sets of historic Creek remains, along with their associated funerary
objects, were offered for potential repatriation.74 Under current NAGPRA protocol, the

many Native American groups are unable to afford the fiscal burdens that come with the repatriation process.
From travel budgets to legal fees, repatriation is an expensive process.
72 Butler, interview by author, Macon, February 02, 2018.
73 The human remains in the collection of the Smithsonian Institute are overwhelmingly those of Native descent,
but individuals of both European and African heritage were also uncovered. The Muscogee Nation felt that,
regardless of ancestry, all these individuals deserved a proper burial and the respect of a peaceful afterlife.
74 Davis, interview by author, Macon, February 01, 2018.

143