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Native American Graves Protection & Repatriation Act

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a federal law passed in 1990. NAGPRA provides a process for museums and federal agencies to return certain Native American cultural items -- defined as human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony -- to Indian tribes and their lineal descendants and Native Hawaiian organizations.

NAGPRA’s implementation is supported by the NAGPRA Review Committee, an advisory body under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) that requests information on compliance with the law and makes annual reports to Congress. Additionally, the committee hears disputes on factual matters to resolve repatriation issues between Indian tribes, Alaska native villages and corporations, and native Hawaiian organizations with museums and federal agencies. 

The most famous NAGPRA case is known by the name “Kennewick Man.” Beginning in 1996, the finding of the skeletal remains of a male prehistoric Caucasoid found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, triggered a nine-year legal clash between scientists, the federal government and several Native American tribes who claim Kennewick Man as their ancestor. In February 2004, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a cultural link between any of the Native American tribes and the Kennewick Man was not genetically justified. This ruling allowed scientific study of the remains to continue.

NAGPRA General Information and History 

  • The National Park Service’s site for NAGPRA is intended to provide all the information that legal professionals, museums, organizations, or tribes may need regarding the act. Here you can access official reports, documents, and publications regarding NAGPRA cases. There is also information about the Review Committee, as well as a thorough FAQ section.
  • The U.S. Department of the Interior hosts NAGPRA’s Bureau of Reclamation. Here you can find official NAGPRA case summaries -- written descriptions of collections that may contain unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony -- and inventories -- item-by-item descriptions of human remains and associated funerary objects.
  • Also at the Bureau of Reclamation’s Museum Page, you can find an overview of the items held within Reclamation's museum property collection, including natural history specimens, historic objects, documents, art, photographs, and ethnographic items.
  • The Friends of America’s Past site is run by a nonprofit tax-exempt organization that aims to support and advance the rights of scientists and the public to learn about America's past. Their site provides the point of view of the scientific community regarding NAGRPA, and specific cases such as Kennewick Man and the Spirit Cave Man.
  • Wikipedia has an unofficial summary of NAGPRA’s history and important cases.

National NAGPRA Programs

  • The National Park Services site has a section on NAGPRA law, regulations, and guidance. The information here is helpful to museums, agencies, and Native American communities in carrying out NAGPRA. The full text of the act is here, as well as its legislative and regulative histories, along with summaries, inventories and notices, and information about excavations and inadvertent discoveries.
  • The NPS site also provides information about the NAGPRA Review Committee. You can access their charter, meeting minutes, and reports.
  • The NAGPRA Training site offers details about official programs and free webinars that cover the background of NAGPRA, the consultation and decision-making process, notices, grants, and civil penalties. Information about registration for the workshops is available on the site.
  • The NAGRPA Notices site releases notices of inventory completion from museums or federal agencies, as well as notices of intent to repatriate.
  • The Special Topics section of the official NAGPRA site holds information about contaminated collections and international repatriation.      

Searchable Databases: 

  • The National NAGPRA Consultation Database is a tool for identifying consultation contacts for Indian tribes, Alaska native villages and corporations, and native Hawaiian organizations. The database is searchable.
  • The Notices of Inventory Completion Database contains published federal register notices pertaining to Native American human remains and associated funerary objects. The site hosts a map showing the distribution of human remains that have been mentioned in published notices of inventory completion. The database is searchable.
  • The Notices of Intent to Repatriate contains published federal register notices pertaining to Native American unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. The database is searchable.
  • The Notices of Intent to Repatriate contains published federal register notices pertaining to Native American unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. The database is searchable.
  • The Native American Consultation Database is a tool for organizations needing to comply to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. It contains consultation contacts for each of the 771 federally recognized Indian tribes, Alaska native villages and corporations, and native Hawaiian organizations. The site also holds maps of interest to NAGPRA cases.
  • The National Archaeological Database holds archaeological reports, maps, and permits.

Case Study: Kennewick Man: 

  • The site of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holds information about the 2004 court ruling that a cultural link between any of the Native American tribes and the Kennewick Man was not genetically justified, allowing scientific study of the remains to continue. The site has a searchable database where the ruling’s document is held.
  • The Burke Museum is the court-appointed neutral repository for the remains of Kennewick Man. Their site gives the background to Kennewick Man, including a timeline of events concerning its discovery and legal debate. There are also links to information about Native American cultural heritage, as well as archaeological and anthropological perspectives on the case of Kennewick Man.
  • The Army Corps, being landowners of the property where the remains was found, holds the role of making all decisions concerning access to them.
  • Section 108 was an amendment to NAGPRA introduced on April 7, 2005, during the 109th Congress, by Senator John McCain. It would have changed the definition of "Native American" from being that which "is indigenous to the United States" to "is or was indigenous to the United States." The 109th Congress concluded without enacting the bill. By the bill's definition, Kennewick Man would have been classified as Native American, regardless of whether any link to a contemporary tribe could be found.
  • On the Smithsonian site for the Museum of Natural History, one of the archaeologists who studied Kennewick Man, James C. Chatters, Ph.D., has published his findings in an article original published by the American Anthropological Association.
  • The National Park Service Archaeology Program site offers information about the Kennewick Man case, including links to useful documents such as the Cultural Affiliation Report and the Radiocarbon Dating Results.

Federal Grants to Assist in the Repatriation Process:

  • The National Park Service site outlines grants made by the Secretary of the Interior to tribes, museums, and native organizations to assist with the NAGPRA Repatriation Process. They provide detailed information about the difference between the two kinds of available grants: consultation/documentation grants and repatriation grants.
  • The NPS site also provides information about who is eligible to receive grants from the Secretary of the Interior for NAGPRA programs, as well as featured grant proposals and final projects, and information for grantees.
  • At the unofficial eHow page on NAGPRA grants, you can find information about the size of grant awards, the application process, and eligibility standards.
  • The National Park Service Grant Guidelines page provides specific information about who can apply for and receive NAGPRA grants.

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