Cultural Affiliation (NAGPRA)
Definition
The link, established by a preponderance of evidence, between a present-day tribe or Native Hawaiian organisation and human remains or cultural items held in a museum or federal collection. Evidence types include geography, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, folklore, and oral tradition.
- Standard of proof
- Preponderance of evidence
- Statute
- NAGPRA, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq
- Evidence types
- Geography, archaeology, biology, linguistics, oral tradition
- Applies to
- Museums and federal agencies holding Native American remains
Common questions
Who decides whether cultural affiliation has been established?+
The museum or federal agency holding the remains makes the initial determination, in consultation with tribes, based on the totality of the evidence. Disputes can go to the NAGPRA Review Committee or federal court.
Does a gap in the archaeological record defeat a claim of cultural affiliation?+
No. The standard is a reasonable connection supported by a preponderance of the evidence, not an unbroken chain of proof, so oral tradition and geography can fill gaps that skeletal or artifact evidence alone cannot close.
Related terms
- Bass Donated Skeletal Collection
- A consent-based skeletal collection of over 1,750 individuals at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, established by William Bass in 1981. All individuals...
- Culturally Unidentifiable Remains
- Human remains in US museum and agency collections whose cultural affiliation with any present-day tribe cannot be established by the preponderance-of-evidence standard....
- De Montfort Precedent (2018)
- The return by De Montfort University Leicester of skeletal remains (Asaru-Ojo) to the Ogoni community in Nigeria, conducted voluntarily under the Human...
- Hamann-Todd Collection
- A skeletal reference collection of approximately 3,100 individuals at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, accumulated 1893 to 1939 from unclaimed bodies...
- NAGPRA
- The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (Public Law 101-601, 1990), a US federal statute requiring museums and federal agencies to...
- Population Affinity
- The preferred modern forensic-anthropological term for the relationship between an unidentified individual's skeletal morphology and a modern reference population. Replaces the older...
- Terry Collection
- A documented skeletal collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (Washington DC), assembled from cadavers donated to Washington University's anatomy...
- UNDRIP
- The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (A/RES/61/295, 2007), adopted by 143 states. Articles 11, 12, and 31 affirm indigenous...
- Willed-Body Donation
- The voluntary, pre-mortem consent by an individual to donate their remains to a specific research programme after death. Distinguished from anatomical donation...