Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act information
1990 US law protecting Native American remains and artifacts
Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act
Long title
An Act to provide for the protection of Native American graves, and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial)
NAGPRA
Enacted by
the 101st United States Congress
Effective
November 16, 1990
Citations
Public law
101-601
Statutes at Large
104 Stat. 3048
Codification
Titles amended
25 U.S.C.: Indians
U.S.C. sections created
25 U.S.C. ch. 32 § 3001 et seq.
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 5237 by Mo Udall (D-AZ) on July 10, 1990
Committee consideration by House Interior and Insular Affairs
Passed the House on October 22, 1990 (voice vote)
Passed the Senate on October 25, 1990 (voice vote) with amendment
House agreed to Senate amendment on October 27, 1990 (passed without objection)
Signed into law by President George H. W. Bush on November 16, 1990
Susquehannock artifacts on display at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, 2007
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law enacted on November 16, 1990.
The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding[1] to return Native American "cultural items" to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Cultural items include human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. A program of federal grants assists in the repatriation process and the Secretary of the Interior may assess civil penalties on museums that fail to comply.
NAGPRA also establishes procedures for the inadvertent discovery or planned excavation of Native American cultural items on federal or tribal lands. While these provisions do not apply to discoveries or excavations on private or state lands, the collection provisions of the Act may apply to Native American cultural items if they come under the control of an institution that receives federal funding.
NAGPRA makes it a criminal offense to traffic in Native American human remains without right of possession or in Native American cultural items obtained in violation of the Act. Penalties for a first offense may reach 12 months imprisonment and a $100,000 fine.
The Department of the Interior amended NAGPRA in 2023 to clarify steps for its implementation. The amendment, which went into effect on January 12, 2024, states "...museums and Federal agencies must defer to the Native American traditional knowledge of lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations."[2]
^The Smithsonian Institution is exempt from this act, but rather must comply with similar requirements under the National Museum of the American Indian Act of 1989.
^Office of the Secretary, Interior (December 13, 2023). "Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Systematic Processes for Disposition or Repatriation of Native American Human Remains, Funerary Objects, Sacred Objects, and Objects of Cultural Patrimony". Federal Register. 88 (2023–27040): 86452. Retrieved December 22, 2023.
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