The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a Federal law enacted in 1990 to resolve and restore the rights of Native American lineal descendants and tribes to human remains and cultural items. California NAGPRA is a State law enacted in 2001 to give consultation and repatriation rights to California Indian Tribes. Federal NAGPRA requires museums, agencies, and universities that accept Federal funding to consult with Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations (NHOs) regarding the repatriation of human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony in museum collections, or discovered on Federal or Tribal lands after 1990. The 2024 update to the federal NAGPRA regulations introduced Duty of Care, requiring consultation with Native American tribes and NHOs on care and storage of human remains and cultural items; a good-faith effort to incorporate care requests; and obtaining free, prior, and informed consent prior to all display, access, or research on human remains and cultural items.
UCLA houses Native American human remains and cultural items subject to NAGPRA in one campus repository, the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Prior to the implementation of NAGPRA, UCLA held Native American human remains from approximately 2,000 ancestors in university stewardship. Human remains and cultural items were primarily obtained between 1950 and 1987 as the result of UCLA archaeological excavations, cultural resource management projects, or inadvertent discoveries by the public. Donated or otherwise acquired ethnographic and archaeological Native American materials within the Fowler Museum’s collection are also included in UCLA’s NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA compliance efforts.
NAGPRA Summaries and Inventories were first created in consultation with potentially affiliated tribes in 1993 and 1996. These preliminary efforts resulted in our first repatriation in 1996 with more following as consultations continued. In 2010 a renewal of requests for identification of further burial or ceremonial cultural items was made resulting in Summaries and Inventories. In accordance with UC Policy and Office of the President direction, campus-wide searches for NAGPRA-eligible materials are ongoing. The campus is continuing to consult and report any newly discovered human remains and cultural items as they are identified.
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Policy
UCLA adheres to the clear guidelines set in NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA, as well as the policy set by UCOP.
The UC Office of the President issued the new UC Policy on Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation on December 22, 2021. This follows many iterations to incorporate revisions to the California Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (CalNAGPRA) under AB 2836 and AB 275, and important feedback from numerous stakeholders, including California Native American Tribes.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
NAGPRA requires museums, agencies and universities to compile detailed summaries and inventories, consult with Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian Organization, and follow a legally defined process to return human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony that meet the requirements.
The 2024 updates to the federal NAGPRA regulations introduced Duty of Care [43 CFR 10.1(d)], requiring consultation with Native American tribes and NHOs on care and storage of human remains and cultural items; a good-faith effort to incorporate care requests; and obtaining free, prior, and informed consent prior to all display, access, or research on human remains and cultural items.
NAGPRA defines five different categories: human remains, associated funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony.
Human remains means any physical part of the body of a Native American individual. There is a separate process for Human Remains with no lineal descendant or cultural affiliation with and Native American Tribe or Native Hawaii Organization.
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 “there is a reasonable connection between human remains or cultural items and an Indian Tribe or Native Hawaiian organization based on a relationship of shared group identity. Cultural affiliation may be identified clearly by the information available or reasonably by the geographical location or acquisition history of the human remains or cultural items” [43 CFR 10.2 “Cultural affiliation”]. NAGPRA requires this determination be made in consultation and using a preponderance of evidence as the standard of proof.
In cases where no lineal descendant or affiliated Native American Tribe or Native Hawaiian Organization is identified, the process outlined in 43 CFR 10.10(k) may be followed for reinterment or transfer to a non-culturally affiliated Native American Tribe or Native Hawaiian Organization. This includes cases where human remains or cultural items are affiliated to a non-federally recognized Tribe.