Ancestors from Moundville repatriated after decades of NAGPRA deadlock

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.- A decades-long fight between the University of Alabama and Southeastern Native American Tribes and Nations recently culminated in the repatriation and reinterment of over 10,000 individual human remains and funerary objects in mid-April. The repatriation, most likely the largest in the history of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), was the combined effort between The Muscogee (Creek) Nation, The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, The Chickasaw Nation, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town, Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. The university announced the official return of the ancestor remains in a July 29 statement, months after the April reinterment. 

The Moundville complex sits along the Black Warrior River in west-central Alabama and was a Mississippian settlement inhabited from CE 1000-1650. The ancestor remains and other cultural items had been in the university’s collections from excavations at Moundville and surrounding sites in Hale and Tuscaloosa Counties from the 1930s to around 2008. 

The University of Alabama had long held out that the remains and items were culturally unaffiliated by using a loophole in NAGPRA that kept them in the universities’ ownership for decades. This claim effectively denied the descendancy of contemporary Southeastern Tribal peoples, and was bolstered by early archaeological theories of cultural and social collapse at the Mississippian site.

Notably, the university had previously agreed to return only certain human remains but not the associated burial items. Many of these items, which the museum had displayed for decades in glass cases, were prized by the museum as pristine examples of Mississippian art and often adorned the covers of archaeology journals, art books, and promotional posters. 

After decades of failed individual tribal repatriation claims, a collective of Muscogee-speaking Tribes and Nations, the Southeastern Tribal Alliance for Repatriation and Reburial, made a joint repatriation claim on the grounds of cultural affiliation. The alliance successfully presented archaeological, historical, social, cultural and linguistic evidence of connection and descendancy to the NAGPRA Review Committee in 2021. 

“A lot of the work that they [MCN Department of Historic Preservation] do goes unnoticed and takes years and/or decades to achieve, but when everybody banded together, this project showed that there’s just nothing that we can’t accomplish.” – MCNC Representative Dode Barnett 

After a detailed inventory of the collection was finalized by the museum in 2022, the results published to the Federal Register concluded, pursuant to NAGPRA, cultural affiliation exists between present-day Muskogean-speaking Tribes and the objects and human remains found at Moundville. 

According to the University of Alabama’s July statement regarding the work and preparation involved in the repatriation and reburial, “The physical repatriation followed months of close collaboration between UA and the Tribes in rehousing and respectfully preparing the ancestors and artifacts for transfer.” 

The MCN Historic and Preservation Department team, headed by Secretary Raelynn Butler, was also joined by MCN leadership for the reburial. Two MCN National Council Representatives were present at the reinterment. MCNNC Representative Mark Randolph shared the following about his experience: 

I’ll never forget the roaring sound the wind made when it rushed through the trees and brought in the rain. The largest re-burial or repatriation had just taken place and thousands of our Mvskoke Ancestors were laid to rest and covered in red dirt.

It’s hard to put into words the feelings of emotion witnessing the largest funeral I ever attended. It had rained the days prior to the burial. The morning of digging the rain waited until all our folks and their possessions were respectfully placed back into the womb of Mother Earth, then it returned. It took four hours.

In my time serving as a National Council member this experience was by far the very best. I felt like we were actually doing something not only for our Ancestors but our People presently, and our children’s future. I felt waves of healing come over me and believe the Mvskoke People will reap blessings of restoration, empowerment, and strength.

The pride I felt to be part of such a Victory is indescribable.  Ms. RaeLynn Butler and the Cultural Preservation Department are all outstanding individuals. The work is truly holistic and comes from the heart. I’m still digesting all aspects of this trip. It was a great cleansing.

Potentially ushering in a new era for the University of Alabama museum, many display cases are now empty. There is now a reimagining of the space with the descendant communities in collaboration and at the helm, according to several tribal officials. While it is early in the process, the museum has posted signage that reads, in part, “Please pardon our progress as we continue this on-going collaboration. The University of Alabama is committed to working with descendant Indigenous communities to determine the best ways to interpret the Moundville site and its people.” 

Representative Dode Barnett was also present and shared her reflections on the profound experience:  

It took me a while to process the experience. I will say that because it just isn’t very often you’re called on to honor ancestors in this way. It’s indescribable. Especially ancestors that predate the concept of who we are as a modern tribe. 

Being part of this repatriation, it just renewed a passion for protecting and honoring and understanding our past in order to inform our present and plan for the future. Because those remains predate the notion of Muskogee or Chata or Chickasaw or Seminole. And so that was very profound, because there are few issues that unite all of us in Indian Country. We are independent, we are nations, we are governments, and our duty as government officials is to pursue what’s in the best interests of our nation. But this is one area, or should be, that unites Indian Country.