CUHR, NAGPRA, and the determination of cultural affiliation: The intersection of cultural and biological identity

NAGPRA requires archaeologists to determine cultural affiliation, defined as a shared group identity that can be reasonably traced historically or prehistorically, between a modern Native American tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group. Biology is one of the lines of evidence used when determining cultural affiliation. In this research, I conducted a literature review of how cultural and biological identity are viewed in the anthropological, archaeological, and American Indian studies literature, I examined published case studies of cultural affiliation under NAGPRA, and used bioarchaeological methods to examine culturally unidentified human remains as examples of how identity is used for cultural affiliation studies under NAGPRA and the new CUHR amendment.;The results of this thesis revealed that the top cited articles from the leading anthropological, archaeological, and American Indian studies journals reflect the dynamics of identity. Not all of the top cited articles referencing identity actually focused on Native American identity, which could be considered an inefficiency with the Google Scholar search engine. A hands-on examination of the culturally unidentifiable human remains housed at Northern Arizona University identified numerous nonmetric cranial and postcranial traits, cranial modification, and different patterns of dental wear and pathology. However, the results of a comparison of these traits to the frequencies of nonmetric traits recorded in populations from various Southwest United States sites, in addition to two Kentucky Adena sites, proved to be inconclusive. Ultimately, open communication between all parties involved with cultural affiliation studies and repatriation is necessary to determine the disposition of culturally unidentifiable human remains.