Background
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Frequently asked questions University resources NAGPRA legislation and informationThe Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), 25 U.S.C. 3001-3013, 43 CFR Part 10 was passed on November 16, 1990, to resolve the disposition of Native American cultural items and human remains under the control of Federal agencies and institutions that receive Federal funding ("museums"), as well as the ownership or control of cultural items and human remains discovered on Federal or tribal lands after November 16, 1990.
The statute and regulations outline the rights and responsibilities of lineal descendants, Indian tribes (to include Alaska Native villages), Native Hawaiian organizations, Federal agencies, and museums under the Act, and provide procedures for complying with NAGPRA. Depending on the category of cultural item in question and its cultural affiliation, NAGPRA provides lineal descendants (regardless of whether or not they are Native American), Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations (NHOs) a process for transfer to them of cultural items.
—U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, American Indian Liaison Office
Prior to NAGPRA implementation, the University of Nevada, Reno held Native American human remains and cultural items that were primarily obtained between 1967 and 1980 as the result of University archaeological excavations, cultural resource management projects or inadvertent discoveries by the public.
NAGPRA Summaries and Inventories were first created in consultation with potentially affiliated tribes in 1995. These preliminary efforts resulted in several repatriations and consultations with tribal nations. In 2018 a new effort to inventory and identify additional burial and ceremonial cultural items began and we are renewing efforts to consult with tribal nations to ensure that all human remains under University of Nevada, Reno control are repatriated as soon as possible. The University is continuing to consult and report any newly discovered human remains and cultural items as they are identified.
Frequently asked questions
NAGPRA requires museums, agencies and universities to compile detailed summaries and inventories, consult with Native American tribes, and follow a process to return human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony that meet the requirements outlined in the law and are claimed by a tribe or tribes.
For the purpose of clarity, on this website we use the terms within the legal texts we act through, although in conversation with our team you will notice we actually use the terms “ancestors” and “belongings” as is more culturally accurate.
NAGPRA covers five different categories: human remains, associated and unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.
Human remains fall into two groups: 1) those that can be culturally affiliated or connected to a modern day tribe or tribes which are federally recognized and 2) those that cannot are considered to be culturally unidentifiable.
Funerary objects are items that are reasonably believed to have been placed with individual human remains either at the time of death, or later, as part of the death rite or ceremony of a culture. In the event the museum holds both the human remains and funerary objects, the funerary objects are considered associated. In the event the human remains are not in the possession of a museum, objects are considered unassociated. Sacred objects are specific ceremonial objects which are needed by traditional Native American religious leaders for the practice of traditional Native American religions by their present day adherents. An object of cultural patrimony is an object having ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the Native American group, rather than property owned by an individual Native American, and which, therefore, cannot be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual.
Cultural affiliation means “a relationship of shared group identity which can be reasonably traced historically or prehistorically between a present day Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group” (25 USC 3001 (2)).
NAGPRA requires this determination be made in consultation and consider multiple lines of evidence including geographical, kinship, biological, archaeological, linguistic, folkloric, oral tradition, historical, or other information. Remains are culturally unidentifiable when a relationship of shared group identity cannot be established on a reasonable basis with a federally recognized tribe. Culturally unidentifiable remains are eligible to be claimed and transferred to Native American tribes using the 43 CFR 10.11 regulations. It is important to note that just because ancestors may be determined “Culturally unidentifiable” does not mean that their origins are truly unknown—it can also mean affiliation to a non federally recognized tribe.
University resources
List of University of Nevada, Reno NAGPRA resources
Anthropology Research Museum Office of Diversity and InclusionOther resources
List of NAGPRA legislation links
NAGPRA official website Association on American Indian Affairs NAGPRA law and policy NAGPRA regulations State Historic Preservation Office