UIUC Anth. Dept Statement:

 

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), as passed in 1990, requires museums and other institutions to follow a process developed for transferring culturally affiliated human remains and associated funerary objects, unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony to Indian tribes and lineal descendants that have requested them and have the legal right to them. In 2010, the law was expanded and clarified to mandate the transfer of culturally unidentified human remains and associated funerary objects.

 

In keeping with the requirements of NAGPRA and the ethics of our field, the department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign is fully committed to the repatriation of our Native American, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian collections. In this process, it is our priority to engage in proactive consultation with tribal communities and lineal descendants.