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NAGPRA and Historical Research: Reevaluation of a Multiple Burial from Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico

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Abstract

An inadvertent discovery of a mass burial dating to April 1862 at Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico, uncovered four sets of human remains. In the authors’ opinion, at least one set has likely been inappropriately repatriated to the Jicarilla Apache and Ute Mountain Ute tribes during a Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) process. We review the historical record and suggest an interpretation for the deaths that is alternative to that offered by a cultural affiliation study. We suggest that use of professional historical archaeologists and historians might have avoided what we believe was an inappropriate repatriation of an Hispanic New Mexico Volunteer under NAGPRA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2 Alcalde Road, Santa Fe, NM, 87508, USA

    Catherine Holder Spude

  2. 2928 271/2 Road, Grand Junction, CQ, 81506, USA

    Douglas D. Scott

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  1. Catherine Holder Spude
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  2. Douglas D. Scott
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Spude, C.H., Scott, D.D. NAGPRA and Historical Research: Reevaluation of a Multiple Burial from Fort Union National Monument, New Mexico. Hist Arch 47, 121–136 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03377128

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