Spirit of the Law: A Case Study in the Application of NAGPRA to Collections from Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, a Unit of the National Park Service

Authors

Keely A. Rennie-Tucker, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

12-2010

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Anthropology, Under the Supervision of Professor LuAnn Wandsnider. Lincoln, Nebraska: December, 2010
Copyright 2010 Keely A. Rennie-Tucker.

Abstract

This thesis offers a case study in applying the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to collections maintained at the National Park Service’s Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (HOCU) from the perspective of a museum curator. Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, a complex of various burial mound and earthwork sites dating primarily to the Middle Woodland (2,200 BP - AD 400), is located near Chillicothe, Ohio. The collections here have many culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains and funerary objects eligible for repatriation under the provisions of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). The archaeological and curation histories are complex, contributing to the multi-faceted and complex nature of applying NAGPRA, which is detailed in this thesis.