Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)

What happened

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Public Law 101-601, approved November 16, 1990, required federal agencies and museums across the country to give Native ancestors and cultural items back. A 1989 law had already required this of the Smithsonian Institution. The National Park Service, which helps administer it, says Congress acknowledged that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands "belong, in the first instance, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations."

The Act sets a priority order for ownership of Native American cultural items excavated or discovered on federal or tribal lands after the Act's date. Human remains and associated funerary objects go first to lineal descendants. If none can be found, they go to the tribe on whose tribal land they were discovered, or to the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation that states a claim.

It also created duties for institutions. Each federal agency and museum holding Native American human remains and associated funerary objects must compile an inventory and, to the extent possible, identify the items' geographical and cultural affiliation. Those inventories had to be done in consultation with tribal officials, within five years of the Act. When cultural affiliation is shown, the agency or museum "shall expeditiously return" the remains and objects on request.

Return depends on a request: the agency or museum acts when a lineal descendant, tribe or Native Hawaiian organization asks and cultural affiliation is shown.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error