NAGPRA

The Anthropological Studies Center manages projects to assist with compliance with the federally-mandated Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

A number of these projects are for collections controlled by outside agencies, such as Caltrans and California State Parks; however, we also manage NAGPRA compliance for our own collections. Duties include:

assessing collections for items that would be subject to NAGPRA regulations,
identifying and initiating consultation with interested federally-recognized tribes,
drafting and arranging for publication of federal notices of inventory completion,
intent to repatriate, assessing competing claims for repatriation of the items,
and the post-publication negotiation for the physical repatriation of the NAGPRA items.

While the issue of repatriation is controversial among archaeologists, the ASC sees this process as a chance to initiate and strengthen relationships with the Native American community, with the goal of paving the way for mutually beneficial research opportunities in the future. Over the years, a total of ninety-six collections from fifty-four sites that contain materials covered by NAGPRA have been housed at the Archaeological Collections Facility. Of these, twenty-four collections have been repatriated or returned to the controlling agency while an additional fifteen collections await the outcome of Cal NAGPRA. The remaining collections are in process.