Request for Comments NAGPRA

http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/2010-5283.htm


"In brief, this rule pertains to those human remains, in collections, determined by museums and Federal agencies to be Native American, but for whom no relationship of shared group identity can be reasonably traced, historically or prehistorically, between a present day Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization and an identifiable earlier group. These individuals are listed on inventories as culturally unidentifiable Native American human remains. The rule requires consultation on the culturally unidentifiable human remains by the museum or Federal agency with Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian
organizations whose tribal lands or aboriginal occupancy areas are in the area where the remains were removed. If cultural affiliation still cannot be determined and repatriation achieved, then the Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization may request disposition of the remains. The museum or Federal agency would then publish a notice and transfer
control to the tribe, without first being required to appear before the Review Committee to seek a recommendation for disposition approval from the Secretary of the Interior. Disposition requests, which do not meet the parameters of the rule, would still require approval from the Secretary, who may request a recommendation from the Review Committee.
Therefore, the Department is issuing this final rule to be effective May 14, 2010."

http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/

Michigan Repatriation Developments

"On Monday, a NAGPRA committee approved a change in the act that will force museums — like the University’s Museum of Anthropology — to inform Native American tribes that “culturally unidentifiable” remains found in their tribal regions may potentially be returned to them."
http://www.michigandaily.com/content/change-act-may-make-museum-anthropology-return-native-american-remains-0?page=0,0

"A group of about 30 anthropologists, archeologists and concerned members of the University community gathered to hear Sven Haakanson, Jr., executive director of the Alutiiq Museum in Alaska, speak and answer questions about relationships between museums and Native American tribes. Haakanson also discussed how the issue of repatriation is often handled at other museums."

http://www.michigandaily.com/content/group-gathers-discuss-native-american-remains?page=0,0

Southeast Alaska Funerary Object to be Repatriated

Notice appearing in the Federal Register, E9-10577:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-10577.htm

Quote:

In 1976, an object was removed from a cave in Port Malmesbury, Kuiu
Island in Southeast Alaska, by a Forest Service archeologist. The
object is a wooden artifact that is believed to be a funerary object
since the cave where it was removed from contained human remains and
associated funerary objects. The human remains and associated funerary
objects that were removed from Port Malmesbury, Kuiu Island were
repatriated to the Organized Village of Kake in 1998, and are described
in a Notice of Inventory Completion previously published in the Federal
Register (63 FR 18034-18035, April 13, 1998). Due to an administrative
oversight this funerary object was not included.
   Historical and ethnographic records, along with Tlingit oral
history, indicate that a smallpox epidemic in the 1800s decimated the
Tlingit communities on Kuiu Island and the survivors moved to Kake and
Klawock. The members of the Killerwhale clan in these villages are the
descendants of these survivors.
   Officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Tongass National
Forest have determined that, pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(3)(B), the one
object described above is reasonably believed to have been placed with
or near individual human remains at the time of death or later as part
of the death rite or ceremony and are believed, by a preponderance of
the evidence, to have been removed from a specific burial site of a
Native American individual. Officials of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Tongass National Forest also have determined that,
pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 3001(2), there is a relationship of shared group
identity that can be reasonably traced between the unassociated
funerary object and the Klawock Cooperative Association and Organized
Village of Kake.