Bioarchaeology

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a federal law that provides a process for the return of Native American cultural items to federally recognized tribes. It applies to any institution that receives or has received federal funds such as museums, historical societies, and universities. The types of cultural items include Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. The law establishes a process for consultation to determine cultural affiliation, and notification prior to repatriation. 

New regulations passed in December 2023 simplify the repatriation process to expedite the return of cultural items. The new rules also require institutions to consult with tribes on the care, use, and interpretation of cultural items in their possession. Known as “duty of care”, this provision has broad implications for the ways in which Nations are represented in museums and other institutions, requiring the incorporation of Indigenous perspectives in all aspects of our work. 

At the NYSM, NAGPRA compliance has proceeded steadily since the law was passed as we work with Indigenous Nations to identify ancestral remains and cultural items for return. A major repatriation concluded this year with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, Delaware Tribe of Indians, and Delaware Nation with the return of Lenape ancestors and burial items from their homeland in eastern New York. A joint reburial held on June 20th was the culmination of several years of work by each Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office and institutions across the state, including the NYSM. 

In a statement issued by the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, on behalf of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and the Delaware Nation, they shared the following:

We offer many heartfelt thanks to community members, museum staff, and the many unseen hands of all of those who participated or facilitated this most deeply significant occasion. As always, we offer profound respect and love to our ancestors for all they have taught us and will continue to in our life’s journeys. Anushiik.

For more information:
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Legislation: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-…;

Regulations: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/12/13/2023-27040/native-…;

Human remains means any physical part of the body of a Native American individual. This term does not include human remains to which a museum or Federal agency can prove it has a right of possession. 

1. Human remains reasonably believed to be comingled with other materials (such as soil or faunal remains) may be treated as human remains.
2. Human remains incorporated into a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered part of the cultural items rather than human remains.
3. Human remains incorporated into an object or item that is not a funerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural patrimony are considered human remains.

Funerary object means any object reasonably believed to have been placed intentionally with or near human remains. A funerary object is any object connected, either at the time of death or later, to a death rite or ceremony of a Native American culture according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. This term does not include any object returned or distributed to living persons according to traditional custom after a death rite or ceremony. Funerary objects are either associated funerary objects or unassociated funerary objects.

1. Associated funerary object means any funerary object related to human remains that were removed and the location of the human remains is known. Any object made exclusively for burial purposes or to contain human remains is always an associated funerary object regardless of the physical location or existence of any related human remains.
2. Unassociated funerary object means any funerary object that is not an associated funerary object and is identified by a preponderance of the evidence as one or more of the following: 
   (i) Related to human remains but the human remains were not removed, or the location of the human remains is unknown,
   (ii) Related to specific individuals or families,
   (iii) Removed from a specific burial site of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, or
   (iv) Removed from a specific area where a burial site of an individual or individuals with cultural affiliation to an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization is known to have existed, but the burial site is no longer extant.

Sacred object means a specific ceremonial object needed by a traditional religious leader for present-day adherents to practice traditional Native American religion, according to the Native American traditional knowledge of a lineal descendant, Indian Tribe, or Native Hawaiian organization. While many items might be imbued with sacredness in a culture, this term is specifically limited to an object needed for the observance or renewal of a Native American religious ceremony.

Object of cultural patrimony means an object that has ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to a Native American group, including any constituent sub-group (such as a band, clan, lineage, ceremonial society, or other subdivision), according to the Native American traditional knowledge of an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization. An object of cultural patrimony may have been entrusted to a caretaker, along with the authority to confer that responsibility to another caretaker. The object must be reasonably identified as being of such importance central to the group that it: 

1. Cannot or could not be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any person, including its caretaker, regardless of whether the person is a member of the group, and
2. Must have been considered inalienable by the group at the time the object was separated from the group.

Duty of care. These regulations require a museum, Federal agency, or DHHL to care for, safeguard, and preserve any human remains or cultural items in its custody or in its possession or control. A museum, Federal agency, or DHHL must:

1. Consult with lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations on the appropriate storage, treatment, or handling of human remains or cultural items;
2. Make a reasonable and good-faith effort to incorporate and accommodate the Native American traditional knowledge of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations in the storage, treatment, or handling of human remains or cultural items; and
3. Obtain free, prior, and informed consent from lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, or Native Hawaiian organizations prior to allowing any exhibition of, access to, or research on human remains or cultural items. Research includes, but is not limited to, any study, analysis, examination, or other means of acquiring or preserving information about human remains or cultural items. Research of any kind on human remains or cultural items is not required by the Act or these regulations.