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The Repatriation Database Data from Nov. 29, 2023

Georgia

Institutions reported making 42% of the more than 1,800 Native American remains taken from Georgia available for return to tribes under NAGPRA.

remains of 766 Native Americans made available for return to tribes
remains of at least 1,057 Native Americans not made available for return

There are 19 institutions located in Georgia that reported Native American remains taken from across the country.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Fernbank Museum of Natural History1416030%
University of Georgia, Department of Anthropology1321812%
Georgia Department of Natural Resources13040676%
U.S. Department of the Interior6010764%
Georgia Power3300%
Augusta Museum of History2200%
Columbus Museum106887%
Georgia Southern University700%
South Georgia State College300%
U.S. Department of Agriculture1267%
U.S. Department of Defense13297%
Augusta State University02100%
Columbus State University028100%
Dalton State College01100%
Emory University, Michael C. Carlos Museum02100%
Georgia Department of Transportation03100%
Georgia State University023100%
Historic Westville04100%
University of West Georgia02100%

There are 38 institutions that reported Native American remains taken from Georgia.

InstitutionRemains Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
U.S. Department of Defense2324917%
Fernbank Museum of Natural History1416030%
U.S. Department of the Interior1358539%
Georgia Department of Natural Resources13040676%
University of Georgia, Department of Anthropology1271812%
University of Florida, Florida Museum of Natural History10600%
Harvard University561015%
Georgia Power3300%
Augusta Museum of History2100%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill1300%
University of Alabama Museums900%
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology8220%
Georgia Southern University700%
University of Tennessee, Knoxville700%
American Museum of Natural History5117%
Indiana University400%
Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology, Phillips Academy310597%
South Georgia State College300%
University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology300%
Auburn University200%
Mississippi State University, Cobb Institute of Archaeology200%
Charleston Museum100%
Columbus Museum100%
Nassau County Department of Parks and Recreation100%
Rochester Museum and Science Center100%
Spratt-Mead Museum100%
U.S. Department of Agriculture1267%
University of California, Riverside100%
University of Indianapolis, Archeology and Forensics Lab100%
University of Texas at San Antonio, Center for Archaeological Research100%
West Virginia Division of Culture and History100%
Augusta State University02100%
Emory University, Michael C. Carlos Museum02100%
Field Museum03100%
Georgia Department of Transportation03100%
Georgia State University015100%
New York University, College of Dentistry01100%
University of West Georgia02100%
Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, when an institution establishes a connection between tribes and remains, it must publish a list of the tribes eligible to make a repatriation claim. The remains are then made available for return to the tribe(s). Once a tribal claim is made, physical transfer may occur. Many remains have been physically returned to tribes, but data on this is spotty because the law does not require institutions to report when these transfers occur.

Institutions made Native American remains taken from Georgia available for return to 17 tribes.

Institutions often make remains available for return to multiple tribes, so the amount of remains listed below may be counted for more than one tribe.
TribeRemains Made Available for Return to Tribe
Muscogee (Creek) Nation760
Poarch Band of Creek Indians714
Thlopthlocco Tribal Town714
Alabama-Quassarte Tribal Town, Oklahoma685
Kialegee Tribal Town644
The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma173
Seminole Tribe of Florida172
Miccosukee Tribe of Indians111
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma94
Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas93
Cherokee Nation92
Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana92
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians92
Shawnee Tribe17
Chickasaw Nation10
Catawba Indian Nation5
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma1

Institutions reported Native American remains taken from 44 counties in Georgia.

CountyRemains Taken From County Not Made Available for ReturnRemains Made Available for Return% of Remains Made Available for Return
Murray County186105%
Glynn County14900%
Liberty County1426030%
Early County8700%
Columbia County73911%
Bibb County613436%
Chatham County57610%
McIntosh County56813%
Bartow County4050393%
Greene County3338%
Morgan County2500%
Decatur County2300%
Bryan County1417%
Cherokee County1200%
Cobb County1200%
Dade County91765%
Richmond County9325%
Charlton County800%
Telfair County700%
Clarke County400%
Dodge County400%
Hancock County400%
Troup County42385%
Wheeler County41275%
Chattahoochee County3770%
Camden County21083%
Coffee County200%
Henry County200%
Screven County200%
Burke County100%
Gordon County1150%
Jenkins County100%
Lee County100%
Monroe County100%
Muscogee County1375%
Pierce County100%
Putnam County100%
Washington County100%
Wayne County100%
Douglas County02100%
Gilmer County02100%
Jackson County01100%
Laurens County034100%
Long County05100%
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About the Data

This tool presents a dataset maintained by the National Park Service containing all the Native American human remains and associated funerary objects that institutions have reported to the federal government under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The dataset includes information about the state and county where remains and objects were taken from, which institutions hold them and whether they have been made available for return to tribes.

The data is self-reported by institutions. The amount of unrepatriated Native American remains reported by institutions is a minimum estimate of individuals and institutions frequently adjust these numbers when they reinventory groups of remains. Some institutions that are subject to NAGPRA have also entirely failed to report the remains in their possession. As a result, the numbers provided are best taken as estimates. The actual number and geographic scope of what’s held by publicly funded institutions is larger than what is presently documented.

ProPublica supplemented this dataset with information about cultural affiliation and disposition to specific tribes by systematically parsing the text of Notices of Inventory Completion published in the Federal Register. An additional dataset from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Tribal Directory Assessment Tool, was used for the section on remains not made available for return from counties that each tribe has indicated interest in to the federal government.

Institution location and tribal headquarters location information was provided by National NAGPRA. The location of some groups that are not federally recognized was provided through research by ProPublica.

Institutions that are part of a larger entity are grouped. (For example, the Mesa Verde National Park is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior.)

Institutions that have not submitted information to the federal government are not listed. The Smithsonian Institution is not listed because its repatriation process falls under the National Museum of the American Indian Act and it is not required to publicly report its holdings with the same detail as institutions subject to NAGPRA.

If you work for an institution and would like to provide comment on your institution’s repatriation efforts, please email [email protected]. If you think the data is incorrect or have a data request, please get in touch. We are aware of some issues with the accuracy of location information and tribes mistakenly being identified for disposition of Native American remains in published notices.

If you want to share something else with ProPublica, we’d like to hear from you.

If you have questions about implementing or complying with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, get in touch with National NAGPRA or the NAGPRA Community of Practice.

We use the word “tribes” to refer to all groups that institutions made Native American remains available to under NAGPRA. This includes tribes, nations, bands, pueblos, communities, Native Alaskan villages, Native Hawaiian organizations and non-federally recognized groups.

Data sources from Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National NAGPRA Program, the Federal Register, Department of Housing and Development, Tribal Directory Assessment Tool