The Department of the Interior’s final rule for the implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) takes effect today, January 12, 2024. Native American Tribes, the AAA and the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) were involved in the formulation of the statute and remain strongly engaged in its implementation. SAA’s Repatriation Committee has prepared a fact sheet that helps explains the new regulations, which apply to remains from the United States.
This final rule revises and replaces definitions and procedures for lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations, museums, and Federal agencies to implement the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. These regulations provide a step-by-step roadmap with specific timelines for museums and Federal agencies to facilitate disposition or repatriation of Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony.